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Cfie  fiJfirarp 

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tanitiet0itp  of  jQortfi  Carolina 


^Tfitsf  booft  toag  presented 
J.  G*    cie    R.  Hasv^AVoK 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL 


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ROLLO  AT  WORK; 

OR, 

THE  WAY  TO  BE  INDUSTRIOUS. 


js 


ELKY 


Page  9. 


ROLLO  AT  WORK. 


THE  EOLLO  SERIES 


IS    COMPOSED    OF    FOURTEEN    VOLUMES,    VIZ. 


Rollo  Learning  to  Talk. 
Rollo  Learning  to  Read. 
Rollo  at  Work. 
Rollo  at  Play. 
Rollo  at  School. 
Rollo's  Vacation. 
Rollo's  Experiments, 


Rollo's  Museum. 
Rollo's  Travels. 
Rollo's  Correspondence. 
Rollo's  Philosophy — Water. 
Rollo's  Philosophy-— Air. 
Rollo's  Philosophy — Fire. 
Rollo's  Philosophy — Sky. 


A    NEW    EDITION,    REVISED    BY    THE    AUTHOR. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 
PUBLISHED  BY  HOGAN  &  THOMPSON 


BOSTON: 
GOULD,  KENDALL  &  LINCOLN 

1850. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1850,  by 

Hogan  &  Thompson, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


NOTICE   TO  "PARENTS. 


Although  this  little  work,  and  its  fellow,  "  Rolio 
at  Play,"  are  intended  principally  as  a  means  of 
entertainment- for  their  little  readers,  it  is  hoped  by 
the  writer  that  they  may  aid  in  accomplishing  some 
of  the  following  useful  purposes  : — 

1.  In  cultivating  the  thinking  powers ;  as  frequent 
occasions  occur,  in  which  the  incidents  of  the  narra- 
tive, and  the  conversations  arising  from  them,  are 
intended  to  awaken  and  engage  the  reasoning  and 
reflective  faculties  of  the  little  readers. 

2.  In  promoting  the  progress  of  children  in  read* 
ing  and  in  knowledge  of  language  ;  for  the  diction 
of  the  stories  is  intended  to  be  often  in  advance  of 
the  natural  language  of  the  reader,  and  yet  so  used 
as  to  be  explained  by  the  connection. 

3.  In  cultivating  the  amiable  and  gentle  qualities 
of  the  heart.  The  scenes  are  laid  in  quiet  and  vir- 
tuous life,  and  the  character  and  conduct  described 
are  generally — with  the  exception  of  some  of  the 

fW^  ordinary  exhibitions  of  childish  folly— -character 
f'and  conduct  to  be  imitated  ;  for  it  is  generally  bet- 
ter, in  dealing  with  children,  to  allure  them  to  what 
«^is  right  by  agreeable  pictures  of  it,  than  to  attempt 
^vto  drive  them  to  it  by  repulsive  delineatious  of  what 
ty*)  is  wrong. 


CONTENTS. 


ROLLO  AT  WORK. 


Story  1.    Labor  Lost. — Elky.   Preparations.    A  Bad 

Beginning.    What  Rollo  might  do.    A  New  Plan. 

Hirrup !  Hirrup  !    An  Overturn. 
Story  2.    The  Two  Little  Wheelbarrows. — Rides. 

The  Corporal's.    The  Old  Nails.    A  Conversation. 

Rollo  learns  to  work  at  last.    The  Corporal's  again. 
Story  3.    Causey-Buiding. — Sand-Men.    The  Gray 

Garden.    A  Contract.  Instructions.  Keeping  Tally. 

Rights  denned.    Calculation. 
Story  4.    Rollo's  Garden.  Farmer  Cropwell.  Work 

and  Play.    Planting.    The  Trying  Time.    A  Narrow 

Escape.    Advice. 
Story  5.     The    Apple-Gathering. — The    Garden- 
House.   Jolly.   The  Pet  Lamb.   The  Meadow-Russet. 

Insubordination.  Subordination.  The  New  Plan  tried. 

A  Present.     The   Strawberry-Bed.    The  Farmer's 

Story 

Story  6.  Georgie.— The  Little  Landing.  Georgie's 
Money.  Two  Good  Friends.  A  Lecture  on  Play- 
things. The  Young  Drivers.  The  Story  of  Shallow. 
Selfish,  and  Wise. 

Engravings. 


Page. 


Page. 


Elky 

9 

Farmer  Cropwell's 

98 

Too  Heavy        .            , 

.     22 

Work  in  the  Rain    . 

.       121 

The  Wheelbarrows 

24 

George's  Lamb    . 

136 

The  Corporal's 

.      40 

The  Harvesting  Party 

140 

The  Causey 

66 

Rollo  on  the  Bridge 

.    162 

The  Cows        4           i 

a       83 

Georgie's  Apples 

173 

HOLLO    AT    WORK 


LABOR   LOST. 


ELKY. 

When  Rollo  was  between  five  and  six 
vears  old,  he  was  one  day  at  work  in  his 
little  garden,  planting  some  beans.  His 
father  had  given  him  a  little  square  bed 
in  a  corner  of  the  garden,  which  he  had 
planted  with  corn  two  days  before.  He 
watched  his  corn  impatiently  for  two  days, 
and,  as  it  did  not  come  up,  he  thought 
he  would  plant  it  again  with  beans.  He 
ought  to  have  waited  longer. 

He  was  sitting  on  a  little  cricket,  dig- 
ging holes  in  the  ground,  when  he  heard 
a  sudden  noise.  He  started  up,  and  saw 
a  strange,  monstrous  head  looking  at  him 
over  the  garden  wall.    He  jumped  up, 


8  LABOR  LOST. 

and  ran  as  fast  as  he  could  towards  the 
house. 

It  happened  that  Jonas,  the  boy,  was 
at  that  time  at  work  in  the  yard,  cutting 
wood,  and  he  called  out,  "  What  is  the 
matter,  Rollo  ?  " 

Rollo  had  just  looked  round,  and  seeing 
that  the  head  remained  still  where  it  was, 
he  was  a  little  ashamed  of  his  fears ;  so 
at  first  he  did  not  answer,  but  walked 
along  towards  Jonas. 

"  That's  the  colt,"  said  Jonas;  "should 
not  you  like  to  go  and  see  him  ?  " 

Rollo  looked  round  again,  and  true 
enough,  it  was  a  small  horse's  head  that 
was  over  the  wall.  It  looked  smaller  now 
than  it  did  when  he  first  saw  it. 

Now  there  was  behind  the  garden  a 
green  field,  with  scattered  trees  upon  it, 
and  a  thick  wood  at  the  farther  side. 
Jonas  took  Rollo  by  the  hand,  and  led 
him  back  into  the  garden,  towards  the 
colt.  The  colt  took  his  head  back  over 
the  fence  as  they  approached,  and  walked 
away  He  was  now  afraid  of  Rollo. 
Jonas  and  Rollo  climbed  up  upon  a  stile 
which  was  built  there  against  the  fence, 
and  saw  the  colt  trotting  away  slowly 


LABOR  LOST.  9 

down  towards  the  wood,  looking  back  at 
Rollo  and  Jonas,  by  bending  his  head 
every  minute,  first  on  one  side,  and  then 
on  the  other. 

"  There  comes  father,"  said  Rollo. 

Jonas  looked  and  saw  Rollo's  father 
coming  out  of  the  wood,  leading  a  horse. 
The  colt  and  the  horse  had  been  feeding 
together  in  the  field,  and  Rollo's  father 
had  caught  the  horse,  for  he  wanted  to 
take  a  ride.  Rollo's  father  had  a  little 
basket  in  his  hand,  and  when  he  saw  the 
colt  coming  towards  him,  he  held  it  up 
and  called  him,  "Elky,  Elky,  Elky,  Elky" 
for  the  colt's  name  was  Elkin,  though 
they  often  called  him  Elky.  Elkin  walked 
slowly  up  to  the  basket,  and  put  his  nose 
in  it.  He  found  that  there  were  some 
oats  in  it ;  and  Rollo's  father  poured  them 
out  on  the  grass,  and  then  stood  by,  pat- 
ting Elky's  head  and  neek  while  he  ate 
them.*  Rollo  thought  his  head  looked 
beautifully ;  he  wondered  how  he  could 
have  been  afraid  of  it. 

Rollo's  father  led  the  horse  across  the 
field,  through  a  gate,  into  a  green  lane 

*  See  Frontispiece, 


10  LABOR  LOST. 

which  led  along  the  side  of  the  garden 
towards  the  house  ;  and  Rollo  said  he 
would  run  round  into  the  lane  and  meet 
him.  So  he  jumped  off  of  the  stile,  and 
ran  up  the  garden,  and  Jonas  followed 
him,  and  went  back  to  his  work. 

Rollo  ran  round  to  meet  his  father,  who 
was  coming  up  the  green  lane,  leading 
the  horse  with  a  rope  round  his  neck. 

"  Father,"  said  Rollo,  "  could  you  put 
me  on  ?  " 

His  father  smiled,  and  lifted  Rollo  up 
carefully,  and  placed  him  on  the  horse's 
back.     Then  he  walked  slowly  along. 

"  Father,"  said  Rollo,  "  are  you  going 
away  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  he,  "  I  am  going  to  ride 
away  in  the  wagon." 

"  Why  did  not  you  catch  Elky,  and  let 
him  draw  you  ?  " 

"  Elky  ?  O,  Elky  is  not  old  enough  to 
work." 

"  Not  old  enough  to  work !  "  said  Rollo, 
"  Why,  he  is  pretty  big.  He  is  almost  as 
big  as  the  horse.  I  should  think  he  could 
draw  you  alone  in  the  wagon." 

"  Perhaps  he  is  strong  enough  for  that ; 
but  Elkv  has  never  learned  to  work  yet." 


LABOR  LOST.  11 

"  Never  learned  !  "  said  Rollo,  in  great 
surprise.  "  Do  horses  have  to  learn  to 
work  ?  Why,  they  have  nothing  to  do  but 
to  pull." 

"Why,  suppose,"  said  his  father,  "that 
he  should  dart  off  at  once  as  soon  as  he  is 
harnessed,  and  pull  with  all  his  strength, 
and  furiously."  t     • 

"  O,  he  must  not  do  so :  he  must  pull 
gently  and  slowly." 

"  Well,  suppose  he  pulls  gently  a  min- 
ute, and  then  stops  and  looks  round,  and 
then  I  tell  him  to  go  on,  and  he  pulls  a 
minute  again,  and  then  stops  and  looks 
round." 

"  O  no,"  said  Rollo,  laughing,  "  he 
must  not  do  so  ;  he  must  keep  pulling 
steadily  all  the  time." 

"  Yes,  so  you  see  he  has  something 
more  to  do  than  merely  to  pull ;  he  must 
pull  right,  and  he  must  be  taught  to  do 
this.  Besides,  he  must  learn  to  obey  all 
my  various  commands.  Why,  a  horse 
needs  to  be  taught  to  work  as  much  as  a 
boy." 

"  Why,  father,  I  can  work ;  and  I  have 
never  been  taught." 

"  O  no,"  said  his  father,  smiling,  "you 
cannot  work." 


12  LABOR  LOST. 

"  1  can  plant  beans,"  said  Rollo. 

Just  then,  Rollo,  who  was  all  this  time 
riding  on  the  horse,  looked  down  from  his 
high  seat  into  a  little  bush  by  the  side  of 
the  road,  and  saw  there  a  little  bunch  that 
looked  like  a  birdsnest;  and  he  said,  "O, 
father,  please  to  take  me  down  ;  I  want 
to  look  at  that  birdsnest." 

His  father  knew  that  he  would  not  hurt 
the  birdsnest;  so  he  took  him  off  of  the 
horse,  and  put  him  on  the  ground.  Then 
he  walked  on  with  the  horse,  and  Rollo 
turned  back  to  see  the  nest.  He  climbed 
up  upon  a  log  that  lay  by  the  side  of  the 
bush,  and  then  gently  opened  the  branches 
and  looked  in.  Four  little,  unfledged 
birds  lifted  up  their  heads,  and  opened 
their  mouths  wide.  They  heard  the  noise 
which  Rollo  made,  and  thought  it  was. 
their  mother  come  to  feed  them. 

"  Ah,  you  little  dickeys,"  said  Rollo ; 
fc<  hungry,  are  you  ?  1  have  not  got  any 
thing  for  you  to  eat." 

Rollo  looked  at  them  a  little  while,  and 
then  slowly  got  down  and  walked  along 
up  the  lane,  saying  to  himself,  "  They  are 
not  big  enough  to  work,  at  any  rate,  but 
/  am,  I  know,  and  I  do  not  believe  but 
that  Elk\j  is." 


LABOR  LOST.  13 


PREPARATIONS. 


When  Rollo  got  back  into  the  yard,  he 
found  his  father  just  getting  into  the 
wagon  to  go  away.  Jonas  stood  by  the 
horse,  having  just  finished  harnessing 
him. 

"Father,"  said  Rollo,  "I  can  work. 
You  thought  I  could  not  work,  but  I  can* 
I  am  going  to  work  to-day  while  you  are 
gone." 

"Are  you?"  said  his  father.  "Very 
well ;  I  should  be  glad  to  have  you." 

"What  should  you  like  to  have  me  do  ? " 
asked  Rollo. 

"  O,  you  may  pick  up  chips,  or  pile 
that  short  wood  in  the  shed.  But  stand 
back  from  the  wheel,  for  I  am  going  to 
start  now." 

So  Rollo  stood  back,  and  his  father 
drew  up  the  reins  which  Jonas  had  just 
put  into  his  hands,  and  guided  the  horse 
slowly  and  carefully  out  of  the  yard. 
Rollo  ran  along  behind  the  wagon  as  far 
as  the  gate,  to  see  his  father  go  off,  and 
stood  there  a  few  minutes,  watching  him 
as  he  rode  along,  until  he  disappeared  at 


14  LABOR  LOST. 

a  turn  in  the  road.  He  then  came  back 
to  the  yard,  and  sat  down  on  a  log  by  the 
side  of  Jonas,  who  was  busily  at  work 
mending  the  wheelbarrow. 

Rollo  sat  singing  to  himself  for  some 
time,  and  then  he  said, 

"Jonas,  father  thinks  I  am  not  big 
enough  to  work ;  don't  you  think  I  am  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Jonas,  hesitating. 
"  You  do  not  seem  to  be  very  industrious 
just  now." 

"O,  I  am  resting  now>"  said  Rollo;  "I 
am  going  to  work  pretty  soon." 

"  What  are  you  resting  from  ?  "  >  said 
Jonas. 

"  O,  I  am  resting  because  I  am  tired." 

"  What  are  you  tired  of?  "  said  Jonas. 
"  What  have  you  been  doing  ?  " 

Rollo  had  no  answer  at  hand,  for  he 
had  not  been  doing  any  thing  at  all.  The 
truth  was,  it  was  pleasanter  for  him  to  sit 
on  the  log  and  sing,  and  see  Jonas  mend 
the  wheelbarrow,  than  to  go  to  work 
himself;  and  he  mistook  that  feeling  for 
being  tired.  Boys  often  do  so  when  they 
are  set  to  work. 

Rollo,  finding  that  he  had  no  excuse  for 
sitting  "there  any  longer,  presently  got  up, 


•     LABOR  LOST.  15 

dnd  sauntered  along  towards  the  house, 
saying  that  he  was  going  to  work,  picking 
up  chips. 

Now  there  was,  in  a  certain  corner  of 
the  yard,  a  considerable  space  covered 
with  chips,  which  were  the  ones  that 
Rollo  had  to  pick  up.  He  knew  that  his 
father  wished  to  have  them  put  into  a 
kind  of  a  bin  in  the  shed,  called  the  chip- 
bin.  So  he  went  into  the  house  for  a 
basket. 

He  found  his  mother  busy;  and  she 
said  she  could  not  go  and  get  a  basket  for 
him  ;  but  she  told  him  the  chip-basket 
was  probably  in  its  place  in  the  shed,  and 
he  might  go  and  get  that. 

"  But,"  said  Rollo,  "  that  is  too  large. 
I  cannot  lift  that  great  basket  full  of 
chips." 

"  You  need  not  fill  it  full  then,"  said 
his  mother.  "  Put  in  just  as  many  as  you 
can  easily  carry." 

Rollo  still  objected,  saying  that  he 
wanted  her  very  much  to  go  and  get  a 
smaller  one.  He  could  not  work  without 
a  smaller  one 

"  Very  well,"  said  she,  "I  would  rather 
that  you  should  not  work  then.     The  in- 


16  LABOR  LOST. 

terruption  to  me  to  get  up  now,  and  go  to 
look  for  a  smaller  basket,  will  be  greater 
than  all  the  good  you  will  do  in  picking 
up  chips." 

Rollo  then  told  her  that  his  father  want- 
ed him  to  work,  and  he  related  to  her  all 
the  conversation  they  had  had.  She  then 
thought  that  she  had  better  do  all  in  her 
power  to  give  Rollo  a  fair  experiment;  so 
she  left  her  work,  went  down,  got  him  a 
basket  which  he  said  was  just  big  enough, 
and  left  him  at  the  door,  going  out  to  his 
work  in  the  yard. 


A  BAD  BEGINNING. 

Rollo  sat  down  on  the  chips,  and  began 
picking  them  up,  all  around  him,  and 
throwing  them  into  his  basket.  He  soon 
filled  it  up,  and  then  lugged  it  in,  emptied 
it  into  the  chip-bin,  and  then  returned, 
and  began  to  fill  it  again. 

He  had  not  got  his  basket  more  than 
half  full  the  second  time,  before  he  came 
upon  some  very  large  chips,  which  were 
so  square  and  flat,  that  he  thought  they 
would  be  good  to  build  houses  with.    He 


LABOR  LOST  17 

thought  he  would  just  try  them  a  little, 
and  began  to  stand  them  up  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  make  the  four  walls  of  a 
house.  He  found,  however,  an  unex- 
pected difficulty ;  for  although  the  chips 
were  large  and  square,  yet  the  edges  were 
so  sharp  that  they  would  not  stand  up 
very  well. 

Some  time  was  spent  in  trying  experi- 
ments with  them  in  various  ways  ;  but  he 
could  not  succeed  very  well ;  so  he  began 
again  industriously  to  put  them  into  his 
basket. 

When  he  got  the  basket  nearly  full,  the 
second  time,  he  thought  he  was  tired,  and 
that  it  would  be  a  good  plan  to  take  a 
little  time  for  rest ;  and  he  would  go  and 
see  Jonas  a  little  while. 

Now  his  various  interruptions  and  de- 
lays, his  conversation  with  his  mother, 
the  delay  in  getting  the  basket,  and  his 
house-building,  had  occupied  considerable 
time  ;  so  that,  when  he  went  back  to  Jo- 
nas, it  was  full  half  an  hour  from  the  time 
when  he  left  him  ;  and  he  found  that  Jo 
nas  had  finished  mending  the  wheelbar- 
row, and  had  put  it  in  its  place,  and  was 
just  going  away  himself  into  the  field. 

a*       2  »* 


18  LABOR  LOST. 

"  Well,  Rollo,"  said  he,  "  how  do  you 
get  along  with  your  work  ?  " 

"  O,  very  well,"  said  Rollo ;  "  I  have 
been  picking  up  chips  all  the  time  since  I 
went  away  from  you." 

Rollo  did  not  mean  to  tell  a  falsehood. 
But  he  was  not  aware  how  much  of  his 
time  he  had  idled  away. 

"And  how  many  have  you  got  in?" 
said  Jonas. 

"  Guess,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Six  baskets  full,"  said  Jonas. 

"  No,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Eight." 

"No;  not  so  many." 

"  How  many,  then  ?  "  said  Jonas,  who 
began  to  be  tired  of  guessing. 

"  Two ;  that  is,  I  have  got  one  in, 
and  the  other  is  almost  full." 

"Only  two?"  said  Jonas.  "Then 
you  cannot  have  worked  very  steadily. 
Come  here  and  I  will  show  you  how 
to  work." 


WHAT  ROLLO  MIGHT  DO. 

So  Jonas  walked  along  to  the  chips, 
and  asked  Rollo  to  fill  up  that  basket,  and 


LABOR  LOST.  19 

carry  it,  and  then  come  back,  and  he  would 
tell  him 

So  Rollo  filled  up  the  basket;,  carried  it 
to  the  bin,  and  came  back  very  soon.  Jo- 
nas told  him  then  to  fill  it  up  again  as  full 
as  it  was  before. 

"  There,"  said  Jonas,  when  it  was  done, 
"  now  it  is  as  full  as  the  other  was,  and  I 
should  think  you  have  been  less  than  two 
minutes  in  doing  it.  We  will  call  it  two 
minutes.  Two  minutes  for  each  basket 
full  would  make  thirty  baskets  full  in  an 
hour.  Now,  I  don't  think  there  are  more 
than  thirty  baskets  full  in  all ;  so  that,  if 
you  work  steadily,  but  without  hurrying 
any,  you  would  get  them  all  in  in  an  hour." 

"  In  an  hour  ?  "  said  Rollo.  "  Could  I 
get  them  all  in  in  an  hour  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Jonas,  "  I  have  no  doubt 
you  can.  But  you  must  not  hurry  and 
get  tired  out.  Work  moderately,  but 
steadily ; — that  is  the  way." 

So  Jonas  went  to  the  field,  leaving 
Rollo  to  go  on  with  his  thirty  baskets. 
Rollo  thought  it  would  be  a  fine  thing  to 
get  the  chips  all  in  before  his  father  should 
come  home,  and  he  went  to  work  very 
busily  filling  his  basket  the  third  time. 


20  LABOR  LOST. 

"  I  can  do  it  quicker,"  said  he  to  him- 
self. "  I  can  fill  the  basket  a  great  deal 
faster  than  that.  I  will  get  it  all  done  in 
half  an  hour." 

So  he  began  to  throw  in  the  chips  as 
fast  as  possible,  taking  up  very  large  ones 
too,  and  tossing  them  in  in  any  way.  Now 
it  happened  that  he  did  fill  it  this  time 
very  quick ;  for  the  basket  being  small, 
and  the  chips  that  he  now  selected  very 
large,  they  did  not  pack  well,  but  lay  up 
in  every  direction,  so  as  apparently  to  fill 
up  the  basket  quite  full,  when,  in  fact, 
there  were  great  empty  spaces  in  it ;  and 
when  he  took  it  up  to  carry  it,  it  felt  very 
light,  because  it  was  in  great  part  empty. 

He  ran  along  with  it,  forgetting  Jonas's 
advice  not  to  hurry,  and  thinking  that  the 
reason  why  it  seemed  so  light  was  because 
he  was  so  strong.  When  he  got  to  the 
coal-bin,  the  chips  would  not  come  out 
easily.  They  were  so  large  that  they  had 
got  wedged  between  the  sides  of  the 
basket,  and  he  had  hard  work  to  get  them 
out. 

This  fretted  him,  and  cooled  his  ardor 
somewhat ;  he  walked  back  rather  slowly, 
and  began  again  to  fill  his  basket. 


LABOR  LOST.  21 


A  NEW  PLAN. 


Before  he  had  got  many  chips  in  it, 
however,  he  happened  to  think  that  the 
wheelbarrow7  would  be  a  better  thing  to 
get  them  in  with.  They  would  not  stick 
in  that  as  they  did  in  the  basket.  "  Men 
always  use  a  wheelbarrow,"  he  said  to 
himself,  fci  and  why  should  not  I  ?  " 

So  he  turned  the  chips  out  of  his  bas- 
ket, thus  losing  so  much  labor,  and  went 
after  the  wheelbarrow.  He  spent  some 
time  in  looking  to  see  how  Jonas  had 
mended  it,  and  then  he  attempted  to 
wheel  it  along  to  the  chips.  He  found 
it  quite  heavy  ;  but  he  contrived  to  get  it 
along,  and  after  losing  considerable  time 
in  various  delays,  he  at  last  had  it  fairly 
on  the  ground,  and  began  to  fill  it. 

He  found  that  the  chips  would  go  into 
the  wheelbarrow  beautifully,  and  he  was 
quite  pleased  with  his  own  ingenuity  in 
thinking  of  it.  He  thought  he  would  take 
a  noble  load,  and  so  he  filled  it  almost 
full,  but  it  took  a  long  time  to  do  it,  for 
the  wheelbarrow  was  so  large  that  he  got 
tired,  and  stopped  several  times  to  rest. 


22 


LABOR  LOST. 


When,  at  length,  it  was  full,  he  took 
hold  of  the  handles,  and  lifted  away 
upon  it.  He  found  it  very  heavy.  He 
made  another  desperate  effort,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  raising  it  from  the  ground  a 
little;  but  unluckily,  as  wheelbarrows 
are  very  apt  to  do  when  the  load  is  too 
heavy  for  the  workman,  it  tipped  down 
to  one  side,  and,  though  Rollo  exerted 
all  his  strength  to  save  it,  it  was  in  vain. 


LABOR  LOST.  23 

Over  went  the  wheelbarrow,  and  about 
half  of  the  chips  were  poured  out  upon  the 
ground  again. 

"  O  dear  me  !  "  said  Rollo ;  "  I  wish 
this  wheelbarrow  was  not  so  heavy." 

He  sat  down  on  the  side  of  the  wheel- 
barrow for  a  time  in  despair.  He  had  a 
great  mind  to  give  up  work  for  that  day. 
He  thought  he  had  done  enough  ;  he  was 
tired.  But,  then,  when  he  reflected  that 
he  had  only  got  in  three  small  baskets  of 
chips,  and  that  his  father  would  see  that 
it  was  really  true,  as  he  had  supposed, 
that  Rollo  could  not  work,  he  felt  a  little 
ashamed  to  stop. 

So  he  tipped  the  wheelbarrow  back, 
which  he  could  easily  do  now  that  the  load 
was  half  out,  and  thought  he  would  wheel 
those  along,  and  take  the  rest  next  time. 

By  great  exertions  he  contrived  to  stag- 
ger along  a  little  way  with  this  load,  until 
presently  the  wheel  settled  into  a  little 
low  place  in  the  path,  and  he  could  not 
move  it  any  farther.  This  worried  and 
troubled  him  again.  He  tried  to  draw 
the  wheelbarrow  back,  as  he  had  often 
seen  Jonas  do  in  similar  cases,  but  in  vain. 
It  would   not    move   back  or  forwards, 


24  LABOR  LOST. 

Then  he  went  round  to  the  wheel,  and 
pulled  upon  that ;  but  it  would  not  do 
The  wheel  held  its  place  immovably. 

Rollo  sat  down  on  the  grass  a  minute 
or  two,  wishing  that  he  had  not  touched 
the  wheelbarrow.  It  was  unwise  for  him 
to  have  left  his  basket,  his  regular  and 
proper  mode  of  carrying  the  chips,  to  try 
experiments  with  the  wheelbarrow,  which 
he  was  not  at  all  accustomed  to.  And 
now  the  proper  course  for  him  to  have 
taken,  would  have  been  to  leave  the 
wheelbarrow  where  it  was,  go  and  get  the 
basket,  take  out  the  chips  from  the  wheel- 
barrow, and  carry  them,  a  basket  full  at  a 
time,  to  the  bin,  then  take  the  wheelbar- 
row to  its  place,  and  go  on  with  his  work 
in  the  way  he  began. 

But  Rollo,  like  all  other  boys  who  have 
not  learned  to  work,  was  more  inclined  to 
get  somebody  to  help  him  do  what  was 
beyond  his  own  strength,  than  to  go  qui- 
etly on  alone  in  doing  what  he  himself 
was  able  to  do.  So  he  left  the  wheel- 
barrow, and  went  into  the  house  to  try  to 
find  somebody  to  help  him. 

He  came  first  into  the  kitchen,  where 
Mary  was  at  work  getting  dinner,  and  he 


LABOR  LOST.  25 

asked  her  to  come  out  and  help  him  get 
his  wheelbarrow  out  of  a  hole.  Mary  said 
she  could  not  come  then,  but,  if  he  would 
wait  a  few  minutes,  she  would.  Rollo 
could  not  wait,  but  went  off  in  pursuit  of 
his  mother. 

"  Mother,"  said  he,  as  he  opened  the 
door  into  her  chamber,  "  could  not  you 
come  out  and  help  me  get  my  wheelbar- 
row along  ?  " 

"What  wheelbarrow?"  said  his  mother. 

"  Why,  the  great  wheelbarrow.  I  am 
wheeling  chips  in  it,  and  1  cannot  get  it 
along." 

"  I  thought  you  were  picking  up  chips 
in  the  basket  I  got  for  you." 

"  Yes,  mother,  I  did  a  little  while ;  but 
I  thought  I  could  get  them  along  faster 
with  the  wheelbarrow." 

"And,  instead  of  that,  it  seems  you 
cannot  get  them  along  at  alL" 

"Why,  mother,  it  is  only  one  little 
place.  It  is  in  a  little  hole.  If  I  could 
only  get  it  out  of  that  little  hole,  it  would 
go  very  well." 

"  But  it  seems  to  me  you  are  not  a  very 
profitable  workman,  Rollo,  after  all.  You 
wanted  me  very  much  to  go  and  get  you 
b  c 


26  LABOR  LOST. 

a  small  basket,  because  the  common  bas- 
ket was  too  large  and  heavy  ;  so  I  left 
my  work,  and  went  and  got  it  for  you. 
But  you  soon  lay  it  aside,  and  go,  of  your 
own  accord,  and  get  something  heavier 
than  the  common  chip-basket,  a  great 
deal.  And  now  I  must  leave  my  work  and 
go  down  and  wheel  it  along  for  you." 

"  Only  this  once,  mother.  If  you  can 
get  it  out  of  this  hole  for  me,  I  will  be 
careful  not  to  let  it  get  in  again." 

"  Well,"  said  his  mother  at  length,  "  I 
will  go.  Though  the  common  way  with 
wagoners,  when  they  get  their  loads  into 
difficulty,  is  to  throw  a  part  off  until  they 
lighten  it  sufficiently,  and  then  go  on.  I 
will  go  this  time  ;  but  if  you  get  into  diffi- 
culty again,  you  must  get  out  yourself." 

So  Rollo  and  his  mother  went  down  to- 
gether, and  she  took  hold  of  the  wheel- 
barrow, and  soon  got  it  out.  She  advised 
Rollo  not  to  use  the  wheelbarrow,  but  to 
return  to  his  basket,  but  yet  wished  him 
to  do  just  as  he  thought  best  himself. 

When  she  had  returned  to  the  house, 
Rollo  went  on  with  his  load,  slowly  and 
with  great  difficulty.  He  succeeded,  how- 
ever, in  working  it  along  until  he  came  to 


LABOR  LOST.  27 

the  edge  of  the  platform  which  was  before 
the  shed  door,  where  he  was  to  carry  in 
his  chips.  Here,  of  course,  he  was  at  a 
complete  stand,  as  he  could  not  get  the 
wheel  up  such  a  high  step  ;  so  he  sat  down 
on  the  edge  of  the  platform,  not  knowing 
what  to  do  next. 

He  could  not  go  to  his  mother,  for  she 
had  told  him  that  she  could  not  help  him 
again  ;  so,  on  the  whole,  he  concluded  that 
he  would  not  pick  up  chips  any  more  ;  he 
would  pile  the  wood.  He  recollected  that 
his  father  had  told  him  that  he  might  either 
pick  up  chips  or  pile  wood  ;  and  the  last, 
he  thought,  would  be  much  easier. 

"  I  shall  not  have  any  thing  to  carry  or 
to  wheel  at  all,"  said  he  to  himself,  "  and 
so  I  shall  not  have  any  of  these  difficul- 
ties." 

So  he  left  his  wheelbarrow  where  it 
was,  at  the  edge  of  the  platform,  intend- 
ing to  ask  Jonas  to  get  it  up  for  him  when 
he  should  come  home.  He  went  into  the 
shed,  and  began  to  pile  up  the  wood. 

It  was  some  very  short,  small  wood, 
prepared  for  a  stove  in  his  mother's  cham- 
ber, and  he  knew  where  his  father  wanted 
to  have  it  piled — back  against  the  side  of 


28  LABOR  LOST. 

the  shed,  near  where  the  wood  was  lying. 
Jonas  had  thrown  it  down  there  in  a  heap, 
as  he  had  sawed  and  split  it. 


HIRRUP!    HIRRUP! 

He  began  to  lay  the  wood  regularly 
upon  the  ground  where  his  pile  was  to  be, 
and  for  a  few  minutes  went  on  very  pros- 
perously. But  presently  he  heard  a  great 
trampling  in  the  street,  and  ran  out  to  see 
what  it  was,  and  found  that  it  was  a  large 
herd  of  cattle  driving  by — oxen  and  cows, 
and  large  and  small  calves.  They  filled 
the  whole  road  as  they  walked  slowly 
along,  and  Rollo  climbed  up  upon  the 
fence,  by  the  side  of  the  gate,  to  look  at 
them.  He  was  much  amused  to  see  so 
large  a  herd,  and  he  watched  all  their  mo- 
tions. Some  stopped  to  eat  by  the  road 
side  ;  some  tried  to  run  off  down  the  lane, 
but  were  driven  back  by  boys  with  long 
whips,  who  ran  after  them.  Others  would 
stand  still  in  the  middle  of  the  road  and  bel- 
low, and  here  and  there  two  or  three  would 
be  seen  pushing  one  another  with  their 
horns,  or  running  up  upon  a  bank  by  the 
road  side. 


LABOR  LOST.  29 

Presently  Rollo  heard  a  commotion 
among  the  cattle  at  a  little  distance,  and, 
looking  that  way,  saw  that  Jonas  was  in 
among  them,  with  a  stick,  driving  them 
about,  and  calling  out,  Hirrup  !  Hirrup  ! 
At  first  he  could  not  think  what  he  was 
doing;  but  presently  he  saw  that  their 
own  cow  had  got  in  among  the  others, 
and  Jonas  was  trying  to  get  her  out. 

Some  of  the  men  who  were  driving  the 
herd  helped  him,  and  they  succeeded,  at 
length,  in  getting  her  away  by  herself,  by 
the  side  of  the  road.  The  rest  of  the 
cattle  moved  slowly  on,  and  when  they 
were  fairly  by,  Jonas  called  out  to  Rollo 
to  open  the  gate  and  then  run  away. 

Rollo  did,  accordingly,  open  the  gate 
and  run  up  the  yard,  and  presently  he  saw 
the  cow  coming  in,  with  Jonas  after  her. 

"  Jonas,"  said  Rollo,  "  how  came  our 
cow  in  among  all  those  ?  " 

"  She  got  out  of  the  pasture  somehow," 
said  Jonas,  in  reply,  "  and  I  must  go  and 
drive  her  back.  How  do  you  get  along 
with  your  chips?  " 

"  O,  not  very  well.  I  want  you  to 
help  me  get  the  wheelbarrow  up  on  the 
platform." 


30  LABOR  LOST. 

"  The  wheelbarrow ! "  said  Jonas.  "  Are 
you  doing  it  with  the  wheelbarrow  ?  " 

"  No.  I  am  not  picking  up  chips  now 
at  all.  I  am  piling  wood.  I  did  have 
the  wheelbarrow." 

In  the  mean  time,  the  cow  walked  along 
through  the  yard  and  out  of  the  gate  into 
the  field,  and  Jonas  said  he  must  go  on 
immediately  after  her,  to  drive  her  back 
into  the  pasture,  and  put  up  the  fence, 
and  so  he  could  not  stop  to  help  Rollo 
about  the  chips ;  but  he  would  just  look 
in  and  see  if  he  was  piling  the  wood  right. 

He  accordingly  just  stepped  a  moment 
to  the  shed  door,  and  looked  at  Rollo's 
work.  "  That  will  do  very  well,"  said 
he  ;  "  only  you  must  put  the  biggest  ends 
of  the  sticks  outwards,  or  it  will  all  tum- 
ble down." 

So  saying,  he  turned  away,  and  walked 
off  fast  after  the  cow 


AN   OVERTURN. 


Rollo  stood  looking   at  him  for  some 
time,  wishing  that  he  was  going  too.    But 


LABOR  LOST.  31 

he  knew  that  he  must  not  go  without  his 
mother's  leave,  and  that,  if  he  should  go  in 
to  ask  her,  Jonas  would  have  gone  so  far 
that  he  should  not  be  able  to  overtake  him. 
So  he  went  back  to  his  wood-pile. 

He  piled  a  little  more,  and  as  he  piled 
he  wondered  what  Jonas  meant  by  telling 
him  to  put  the  largest  ends  outwards.  He 
took  up  a  stick  which  had  a  knot  on  one 
end,  which  made  that  end  much  the 
largest,  and  laid  it  on  both  ways,  first  with 
the  knot  back  against  the  side  of  the  shed, 
and  then  with  the  knot  in  front,  towards 
himself.  He  did  not  see  but  that  the 
stick  lay  as  steadily  in  one  position  as  in 
the  other. 

"  Jonas  was  mistaken,"  said  he.  "  It 
is  a  great  deal  better  to  put  the  big  ends 
back.  Then  they  are  out  of  sight ;  all 
the  old  knots  are  hid,  and  the  pile  looks 
handsomer  in  front." 

So  he  went  on,  putting  the  sticks  upon 
the  pile  with  the  biggest  ends  back  against 
the  shed.  By  this  means  the  back  side 
of  the  pile  began  soon  to  be  the  highest, 
and  the  wood  slanted  forward,  so  that, 
when  it  was  up  nearly  as  high  as  his 
head,  it  leaned  forward  so  as  to  be  quite 


32  LABOR  LOST. 

unsteady.  Rollo  could  not  imagine  what 
made  his  pile  act  so.  He  thought  he 
would  put  on  one  stick  more,  and  then 
leave  it.  But,  as  he  was  putting  on  this 
stick,  he  found  that  the  whole  pile  was 
very  unsteady.  He  put  his  hand  upon  it, 
and  shook  it  a  little,  to  see  if  it  was  going 
to  fall,  when  he  found  it  was  coming 
down  right  upon  him,  and  had  just  time 
to  spring  back  before  it  fell. 

He  did  not  get  clear,  however ;  for,  as 
he  stepped  suddenly  back,  he  tumbled 
over  the  wood  which  was  lying  on  the 
ground,  and  fell  over  backwards ;  and  a 
large  part  of  the  pile  came  down  upon 
him. 

He  screamed  out  with  fright  and  pain, 
for  he  bruised  himself  a  little  in  falling ; 
though  the  wood  which  fell  upon  him  was 
so  small  and  light  that  it  did  not  do  much 
serious  injury. 

Rollo  stopped  crying  pretty  soon,  and 
went  into  the  house;  and  that  evening, 
when  his  father  came  home,  he  went  to 
him,  and  said, 

"  Father,  you  were  right,  after  all ;  I 
donH  know  how  to  work  any  better  than 
Elky." 


THE  TWO  LITTLE 

WHEELBARROWS. 


THE  WHEELBARROWS. 


Page  64. 


THE 


TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS. 


RIDES. 


Rollo  often  used  to  ride  out  with  his 
father  and  mother.  When  he  was  quite 
a  small  boy,  he  did  not  know  how  to 
manage  so  as  to  get  frequent  rides.  He 
used  to  keep  talking,  himself,  a  great  deal, 
and  interrupting  his  father  and  mother, 
when  they  wanted  to  talk ;  and  if  he  was 
tired,  he  would  complain,  and  ask  them, 
again  and  again,  when  they  should  get 
home.  Then  he  was  often  thirsty,  and 
would  tease  his  father  and  mother  for 
water,  in  places  where  there  was  no  water 
to  be  got,  and  then  fret  because  he  was 
obliged  to  wait  a  little  while.  In  conse- 
quence of  this,  his  father  and  mother  did 
not  take  him  very  often.  When  they 
wanted  a  quiet,  still,  pleasant  ride,  they 
had  to  leave  Rollo  behind.     A  great  many 


36     THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS. 

children  act  just  as  Rollo  did,  and  thus 
deprive  themselves  of  a  great  many  very 
pleasant  rides. 

Rollo  observed,  however,  that  his  uncle 
almost  always  took  Lucy  with  him  when 
he  went  to  ride.  And  one  day,  when  he 
was  playing  in  the  yard  where  Jonas  was 
at  work  setting  out  trees,  he  saw  his  un- 
cle riding  by,  with  another  person  in  the 
chaise,  and  Lucy  sitting  between  them 
on  a  little  low  seat.  Lucy  smiled  and 
nodded  as  she  went  by ;  and  when  she  had 
gone,  Rollo  said, 

"  There  goes  Lucy,  taking  a  ride. 
Uncle  almost  always  takes  her,  when  he 
goes  any  where.  I  wonder  why  father 
does  not  take  me  as  often." 

"  I  know  why,"  said  Jonas. 

*  What  is  the  reason  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  Because  you  are  troublesome,  and 
Lucy  is  not.  If  I  was  a  boy  like  you,  1 
should  manage  so  as  almost  always  to  ride 
with  my  father." 

"Whv,  what  should  you  do?"  said 
Rollo.    " 

"  Why,  in  the  first  place,  I  should  never 
find  fault  with  my  seat.  I  should  sit  ex- 
actly where  they  put  me,  without  any  com- 


THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS.    37 

plaint.  Then  I  should  not  talk  much, 
and  I  should  never  interrupt  them  when 
they  were  talking.  If  I  saw  any  thing 
on  the  road  that  I  wanted  to  ask  about,  I 
should  wait  until  I  had  a  good  opportunity 
to  do  it  without  disturbing  their  conversa- 
tion ;  and  then,  if  I  wanted  any  thing  to 
eat  or  drink,  I  should  not  ask  for  it,  unless 
I  was  in  a  place  where  they  could  easily 
get  it  for  me.  Thus  I  should  not  be  any 
trouble  to  them,  and  so  they  would  let  me 
go  almost  always." 

Rollo  was  silent.  He  began  to  recol- 
lect how  much  trouble  he  had  given  his 
parents,  when  riding  with  them,  without 
thinking  of  it  at  the  time.  He  did  not 
say  any  thing  to  Jonas  about  it,  but  he 
secretly  resolved  to  try  Jonas's  experiment 
the  very  next  time  he  went  to  ride. 

He  did  so,  and  in  a  very  short  time  his 
father  and  mother  both  perceived  that 
there  was,  some  how  or  other,  a  great 
change  in  his  manners.  He  had  ceased 
to  be  troublesome,  and  had  become  quite 
a  pleasant  travelling  companion.  And  the 
effect  was  exactly  as  Jonas  had  foretold. 
His  father  and  mother  liked  very  much  to 
have  such  a  still,  pleasant  little  boy  sitting 


38     THE  TWO  LITTLE   WHEELBARROWS. 

between  them ;  and  at  last  they  began 
almost  to  think  they  could  not  have  a 
pleasant  ride  themselves,  unless  Rollo  was 
with  them. 

They  used  to  put  a  little  cricket  in, 
upon  the  bottom  of  the  chaise,  for  Rollo  to 
sit  upon ;  but  this  was  not  very  convenient, 
and  so  one  day  Rollo's  father  said  that, 
now  Rollo  had  become  so  pleasant  a  boy 
to  ride  with  them,  he  would  have  a  lit- 
tle seat  made  on  purpose  for  him.  "  In 
fact,"  said  he,  "  I  will  take  the  chaise 
down  to  the  corporal's  to-night,  and  see 
if  he  cannot  do  it  for  me." 

"  And  may  I  go  with  you  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"Yes,"  said  his  father,  "  you  may." 

Rollo  was  always  very  much  pleased 
when  his  father  let  him  go  to  the  corporal's. 


THE  CORPORAL'S. 

But  perhaps  the  reader  will  like  to  know 
who  this  corporal  was  that  Rollo  was  so 
desirous  of  going  to  see.  He  was  an  old 
soldier,  who  had  become  disabled  in  the 
wars,  so  that  he  could  not  go  out  to  do 
very  hard  work,  but  was  very  ingenious 


THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS.    39 

in  making  and  mending  things,  and  he  had 
a  little  shop  down  by  the  mill,  where  he 
used  to  work. 

Rollo  often  went  there  with  Jonas,  to 
carry  a  chair  to  be  mended,  or  to  get  a 
lock  or  latch  put  in  order ;  and  sometimes 
to  buy  a  basket,  or  a  rake,  or  some  simple 
thing  that  the  corporal  knew  how  to 
make.  A  corporal,  you  must  know,  is  a 
kind  of  an  officer  in  a  company.  This 
man  had  been  such  an  officer ;  and  so  they 
always  called  him  the  corporal.  I  never 
knew  what  his  other  name  was. 

That  evening  Rollo  and  his  father  set 
off  in  the  chaise  to  go  to  the  corporal's. 
It  was  not  very  far.  They  rode  along  by 
some  very  pleasant  farm-houses,  and  came 
at  length  to  the  house  where  Georgie  lived. 
They  then  went  down  the  hill ;  but,  just 
before  they  came  to  the  bridge,  they  turned 
off  among  the  trees,  into  a  secluded  road, 
which  led  along  the  bank  of  the  stream. 
After  going  on  a  short  distance,  they  came 
out  into  a  kind  of  opening  among  the 
trees,  where  a  mill  came  into  view,  by  the 
side  of  the  stream ;  and  opposite  to  it, 
across  the  road,  under  the  trees,  was  the 
corporal's  little  shop. 


40     THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS. 

The  trees  hung  over  the  shop,  and  be- 
hind it  there  was  a  high  rocky  hill  almost 
covered  with  forest  trees.  Between  the 
shop  and  the  mill  they  could  see  the  road 
winding  along  a  little  wray  still  farther 
up  the  stream,  until  it  was  lost  in  the 
woods. 


As  soon  as  Rollo  came  in  sight  of  the 
shop,  he  saw  a  little  wheelbarrow  stand- 
ing up  by  the  side  of  the  door.   It  was  j  ust 


THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS.     41 

large  enough  for  him,  and  he  called  out 
for  his  father  to  look  at  it. 

"  It  is  a  very  pretty  little  wheelbarrow, " 
said  his  father. 

"  I  wish  you  would  buy  it  for  me. 
How  much  do  you  suppose  the  corporal 
asks  for  it  ?  " 

"We  will  talk  with  him  about  it,"  said 
his  father. 

So  saying,  they  drove  up  to  the  side  of 
the  road  near  the  mill,  and  fastened  the 
horse  at  a  post.  Then  Rollo  clambered 
down  out  of  the  chaise,  and  he  and  his 
father  walked  into  the  shop. 

They  found  the  corporal  busily  at  work 
mending  a  chair-bottom.  Rollo  stood  by, 
much  pleased  to  see  him  weave  in  the 
flags,  while  his  father  explained  to  the 
corporal  that  he  wanted  a  small  seat  made 
in  front,  in  his  chaise. 

"  I  do  not  know  whether  you  can  do  it, 
or  not,"  said  he. 

"  What  sort  of  a  seat  do  you  want  ?  " 

"  I  thought,"  said  he,  "  that  you  might 
make  a  little  seat,  with  two  legs  to  it  in 
front,  and  then  fasten  the  back  side  of  it 
to  the  front  of  the  chaise-box." 

"Yes,"  said  the  corporal,  "  that  will  do, 
b*  d* 


42     THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS. 

I  think ;  but  I  must  have  a  little  black- 
smith work  to  fasten  the  seat  properly  be- 
hind, so  that  you  can  slip  it  out  when  you 
are  not  using  it.     Let  us  go  and  see." 

So  the  corporal  rose  to  go  out  and 
see  the  chaise,  and  as  they  passed  by  the 
wheelbarrow  at  the  door,  as  they  went 
out,  Rollo  asked  him  what  was  the  price 
of  that  little  wheelbarrow. 

"That  is  not  for  sale,  my  little  man. 
That  is  engaged.  But  I  can  make  you 
one,  if  your  father  likes.  I  ask  three  quar- 
ters of  a  dollar  for  them." 

Rollo  looked  at  it  very  wishfully,  and 
the  corporal  told  him  that  he  might  try  it 
if  he  chose.  "  Wheel  it  about,"  said  he, 
"  w7hile  your  father  and  I  are  looking  at 
the  chaise." 

So  Rollo  trundled  the  wheelbarrow  up 
and  down  the  road  with  great  pleasure. 
It  was  light,  and  it  moved  easily.  He 
wished  he  had  such  a  one.  It  would 
not  tip  over,  he  said,  like  that  great  heavy 
one  at  home  ;  he  thought  he  could  wheel 
it  even  if  it  was  full  of  stones.  He  ran 
down  with  it  to  the  shore  of  the  stream, 
where  there  were  plenty  of  stones  lying, 
intending  to  load  it  up,  and  try  it.     But 


THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS.     43 

when  he  got  there,  he  recollected  that  he 
had  not  had  liberty  to  put  any  thing  in 
it ;  and  so  he  determined  at  once  that  he 
would  not. 

Just  then  his  father  called  him.  So  he 
wheeled  the  wheelbarrowr  back  to  its 
place,  and  told  the  corporal  that  he  liked 
it  very  much.  He  wanted  his  father  to 
engage  one  for  him  then,  but  he  did  not 
ask  him.  He  thought  that,  as  he  had  al- 
ready expressed  a  wish  for  one,  it  would 
be  better  not  to  say  any  thing  about  it 
again,  but  to  wait  and  let  his  father  do  as 
he  pleased. 

As  they  were  going  home,  his  father 
said, 

"  That  was  a  very  pretty  wheelbarrow, 
Rollo,  I  think  myself." 

"Yes,  it  was  beautiful,  father.  It  was 
so  light,  and  went  so  easy !  I  wish  you 
would  buy  me  one,  father." 

I  would,  my  son,  but  I  think  a  wheel- 

rrow  will  give  you  more  pleasure  at  some 
future  time,  than  it  will  now." 

"  When  do  you  mean  ?  " 

" Whenyou  have  learned  to  work." 

"But  I  want  the  wheelbarrow  to  play 
with." 


bar 


44    THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS. 

"  I  know  you  do  ;  but  you  would  take  a 
great  deal  more  solid  and  permanent  sat- 
isfaction in  such  a  thing,  if  you  were  to 
use  it  for  doing  some  useful  work." 

"  When  shall  I  learn  to  work,  father?" 
said  Rollo. 

"  I  have  been  thinking  that  it  is  full 
time  now.  You  are  about  six  years  old, 
and  they  say  that  a  boy  of  seven  years  old 
is  able  to  earn  his  living." 

"  Well,  father,  I  wish  you  would  teach 
me  to  work.    What  should  you  do  first  ?  " 

"  The  first  lesson  would  be  to  teach  you 
to  do  some  common,  easy  work,  steadily" 

"  Why,  father,  I  can  do  that  now,  with- 
out being  taught." 

"  I  think  you  are  mistaken  about  that. 
A  boy  works  steadily  when  he  goes  direct- 
ly forward  in  his  work,  without  stopping 
to  rest,  or  to  contrive  newT  ways  of  doing 
it,  or  to  see  other  people,  or  to  talk.  Now, 
do  you  think  you  could  work  steadily  an 
hour,  without  stopping  for  any  of  these 
reasons  ?  " 

"  Why— yes,"  said  Rollo. 

"  I  will  try  you  to-morrow,"  said  his 
father. 


THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS.     45 


THE    OLD    NAILS. 

The  next  morning,  after  breakfast,  Rol- 
lo's  father  told  him  he  was  ready  for  him 
to  go  to  his  work.  He  took  a  small  bas- 
ket in  his  hand,  and  led  Rollo  out  into  the 
barn,  and  told  him  to  wait  there  a  few 
minutes,  and  he  would  bring  him  some- 
thing to  do. 

Rollo  sat  down  on  a  little  bundle  of 
straw,  wondering  what  his  work  was  going 
to  be. 

Presently  his  father  came  back,  bring- 
ing in  his  hands  a  box  full  of  old  nails, 
which  he  got  out  of  an  old  store-room,  in 
a  corner  of  the  barn.  He  brought  it  along, 
and  set  it  down  on  the  barn  floor. 

"Why,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "what  am 
1  going  to  do  with  those  old  nails  ?  " 

"  You  are  going  to  sort  them.  Here  are 
a  great  many  kinds,  all  together.  I  want 
them  all  picked  over — those  that  are  alike 
put  by  themselves.  I  will  tell  you  exact- 
ly how  to  do  it." 

Rollo  put  his  hand  into  the  box,  and 
began  to  pick  up  some  of  the  nails,  and 
look   them   over,    while   his    father   was 


46    THE  TWO  LITTLE   WHEELBARROWS. 

speaking ;  but  his  father  told  him  to  put 
them  down,  and  not  begin  until  he  had 
got  all  his  directions. 

"  You  must  listen,"  said  he,  "  and  un- 
derstand the  directions  now,  for  I  cannot 
tell  you  twice." 

He  then  took  a  little  wisp  of  straw,  and 
brushed  away  a  clean  place  upon  the  barn 
floor,  and  then  poured  down  the  nails 
upon  it. 

"  O,  how  many  nails !  "  said  Rollo. 

His  father  then  took  up  a  handful  of 
them,  and  showed  Rollo  that  there  were 
several  different  sizes;  and  he  placed  them 
down  upon  the  floor  in  little  heaps,  each 
size  by  itself.  Those  that  were  crooked 
also  he  laid  away  in  a  separate  pile. 

"  Now,  Rollo,"  said  he,  "  I  want  you  to 
go  to  work  sorting  these  nails,  steadily 
and  industriously,  until  they  are  all  done. 
There  are  not  more  than  three  or  four 
kinds  of  nails,  and  you  can  do  them  pretty 
fast  if  you  work  steadily,  and  do  not  get 
to  playing  with  them.  If  you  find  any 
pieces  of  iron,  or  any  thing  else  that  you 
do  not  know  what  to  do  with,  lay  them 
aside,  and  go  on  with  the  nails.  Do  you 
understand  it  all;  " 


THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS.    47 

Rollo  said  he  did,  and  so  his  father  left 
him,  and  went  into  the  house.  Rollo  sat 
down  upon  the  clean  barn  floor,  and  began 
his  task. 

"  I  don't  think  this  is  any  great 
thing,"  said  he ;  "I  can  do  this  easily 
enough  ;  "  and  he  took  up  some  of  the 
nails,  and  began  to  arrange  them  as  his 
father  had  directed. 

But  Rollo  did  not  perceive  what  the 
real  difficulty  in  his  task  was.  It  was, 
indeed,  very  easy  to  see  what  nails  were 
large,  and  what  were  small,  and  what 
were  of  middle  size,  and  to  put  them  in 
their  proper  heaps.  There  was  nothing 
very  hard  in  that.  The  difficulty  was, 
that,  after  having  sorted  a  few,  it  would 
become  tedious  and  tiresome  work,  doing 
it  there  all  alone  in  the  barn, — picking 
out  old  nails,  with  nobody  to  help  him,  and 
nobody  to  talk  to,  and  nothing  to  see,  but 
those  little  heaps  of  rusty  iron  on  the 
floor. 

This,  I  say,  was  the  real  trouble ;  and 
Rollo's  father  knew,  when  he  set  his  little 
boy  about  it,  that  he  would  soon  get  very 
tired  of  it,  and,  not  being  accustomed  to 
any  thing  but  play,  would  not  persevere. 


48    THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS.   \ 

And  so  it  was.  Rollo  sorted  out  a  few, 
and  then  he  began  to  think  that  it  was 
rather  tiresome  to  be  there  all  alone ;  and 
he  thought  it  would  be  a  good  plan  for  him 
to  go  and  ask  his  father  to  let  him  go  and 
get  his  cousin  James  to  come  and  help  him. 

He  accordingly  laid  down  the  nails  he 
had  in  his  hand,  and  went  into  the  house, 
and  found  his  father  writing  at  a  table. 

"  What  is  the  matter  now  ?  "  said  his 
father. 

"  Why,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "  I  thought 
I  should  like  to  have  James  come  and  help 
me,  if  you  are  willing ; — we  can  get  them 
done  so  much  quicker  if  there  are  two." 

"  But  my  great  object  is,  not  to  get  the 
nails  sorted  very  quick,  but  to  teach  you 
patient  industry.  I  know  it  is  tiresome 
for  you  to  be  alone,  but  that  is  the  very 
reason  why  I  wish  you  to  be  alone.  I 
want  you  to  learn  to  persevere  patiently 
in  doing  any  thing,  even  if  it  is  tiresome. 
What  I  want  to  teach  you  is,  to  ivork,  not 
to  play." 

Rollo  felt  disappointed,  but  he  saw  that 
his  father  was  right,  and  he  went  slowly 
back  to  his  task.  He  sorted  out  two  or 
three  handfuls  more,  but  he  found  there 


r       THE  TWO  LITTLE   WHEELBARROWS.    49 

was  no  pleasure  in  it,  and  he  began  to  be 
very  sorry  his  father  had  set  him  at  it. 

Having  no  heart  for  his  work,  he  did 
not  go  on  with  alacrity,  and  of  course 
made  very  slow  progress.  He  ought  to 
have  gone  rapidly  forward,  and  not 
thought  any  thing  about  the  pleasantness 
or  unpleasantness  of  it,  but  only  been 
anxious  to  finish  the  work,  and  please  his 
father.  Instead  of  that,  he  only  lounged 
over  it — looked  at  the  heap  of  nails,  and 
sighed  to  think  how  large  it  was.  He  could 
not  sort  all  those,  possibly,  he  said.  He 
knew  he  •  could  not.  It  would  take  him 
forever. 

Still  he  could  not  think  of  any  excuse  for 
leaving  his  work  again,  until,  after  a  little 
while,  he  came  upon  a  couple  of  screws. 
"  And  now  what  shall  I  do  with  these  ?  " 
said  he. 

He  took  the  screws,  and  laid  them  side 
by  side,  to  measure  them,  so  as  to  see  which 
was  the  largest.  Then  he  rolled  them 
about  a  little,  and  after  playing  with  them 
for  a  little  time,  during  which,  of  course, 
his  work  was  entirely  neglected,  he  con- 
cluded he  would  go  and  ask  his  father 
what  he  was  to  do  with  screws. 
c  4  E 


50    THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS. 

He  accordingly  walked  slowly  along  to 
the  house,  stopping  to  look  at  the  grass- 
hoppers and  butterflies  by  the  way. 
After  wasting  some  time  in  this  manner, 
he  appeared  again  at  his  father's  table,  and 
wanted  to  know  what  he  should  do  with 
the  screws  that  he  found  among  the  nails. 

"You  ought  not  to  have  left  your  work 
to  come  and  ask  that  question,"  said  his 
father.  "  I  am  afraid  you  are  not  doing 
very  wrell.  I  gave  you  all  the  necessary 
instructions.     Go  back  to  your  work." 

"  But,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "  as  he  went 
out,  I  do  not  know  what  I  am  to  do  with 
the  screws.  You  did  not  say  any  thing 
about  screws." 

"  Then  why  do  you  leave  your  work  to 
ask  me  any  thing  about  them?  " 

"  Why, — because, — "  said  Rollo,  hesi- 
tating.    He  did  not  know  what  to  say. 

"  Your  work  is  to  sort  out  the  nails,  and 
I  expect,  by  your  coming  to  me  for  such 
frivolous  reasons,  that  you  are  not  going 
on  with  it  very  well." 

Rollo  went  slowly  out  of  the  room,  and 
sauntered  along  back  to  his  work.  He 
put  the  screws  aside,  and  went  on  with  the 
nails,  but  he  did  very  little.     When  the 


j       THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS.    51 

heart  is  not  in  the  work,  it  always  goes  on 
very  slowly. 

Thus  an  hour  or  two  of  the  forenoon 
passed  away,  and  Rollo  made  very  little 
progress.  At  last  his  father  came  out  to 
see  what  he  had  done ;  and  it  was  very 
plain  that  he  had  been  idling  away  his 
time,  and  had  accomplished  very  little  in- 
deed. 

His  father  then  said  that  he  might  leave 
his  work  and  come  in.  Rollo  walked 
along  by  the  side  of  his  father,  and  he  said 
to  him — 

"  I  see,  Rollo,  that  I  shall  not  succeed  in 
teaching  you  to  work  industriously,  with- 
out something  more  than  kind  words." 

Rollo  knew  not  what  to  say,  and  so  he 
was  silent.     He  felt  guilty  and  ashamed. 

"  I  gave  you  work  to  do  which  was 
very  easy  and  plain,  but  you  have  been 
leaving  it  repeatedly  for  frivolous  reasons; 
and  even  while  you  were  over  your  work, 
you  have  not  been  industrious.  Thus  you 
have  wasted  your  morning  entirely ;  you 
have  neither  done  work  nor  enjoyed  play. 

"  I  was  afraid  it  would  be  so,"  he  con- 
tinued. "  Very  few  boys  can  be  taught  to 
work   industriously,  without  being  com- 


52    THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS. 

pelled ;  though  I  hoped  that  my  little 
Rollo  could  have  been.  But  as  it  is,  as 
I  find  that  persuasion  will  not  do,  I  must 
do  something  more  decided.  I  should  do 
very  wrong  to  let  you  grow  up  an  idle 
boy;  and  it  is  time  for  you  to  begin  to 
learn  to  do  something  besides  play." 

He  said  this  in  a  kind,  but  very  serious 
tone,  and  it  was  plain  he  was  much  dis- 
pleased. He  told  Rollo,  a  minute  or  two 
after,  that  he  might  go,  then,  where  he 
pleased,  and  that  he  would  consider  what 
he  should  do,  and  tell  him  some  other 
time. 


A  CONVERSATION. 

That  evening,  when  Rollo  was  just 
going  to  bed,  his  father  took  him  up  in  his 
lap,  and  told  him  he  had  concluded  what 
to  do. 

"  You  see  it  is  very  necessary,"  said  he, 
"  that  you  should  have  the  power  of  con- 
fining yourself  steadily  and  patiently  to  a 
single  employment,  even  if  it  does  not 
amuse  you.  /  have  to  do  that,  and  all 
people  have  to  do  it,  and  you  must  learn 


,    THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS.    53 

s 

to  do  it,  or  you  will  grow  up  indolent  and 
useless.  You  cannot  do  it  now,  it  is  very 
plain.  If  I  set  you  to  doing  any  thing, 
you  go  on  as  long  as  the  novelty  and  the 
amusement  last,  and  then  your  patience 
is  gone,  and  you  contrive  every  possible 
excuse  for  getting  away  from  your  task. 
Now,  I  am  going  to  give  you  one  hour's 
work  to  do,  every  forenoon  and  afternoon. 
I  shall  give  you  such  things  to  do,  as  are 
perfectly  plain  and  easy,  so  that  you  will 
have  no  excuse  for  neglecting  your  work 
or  leaving  it.  But  yet  I  shall'  choose  such 
things  as  will  afford  you  no  amusement; 
for  I  want  you  to  learn  to  work,  not  play." 

" But,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "you told  me 
there  was  pleasure  in  work,  the  other  day. 
But  how  can  there  be  any  pleasure  in  it, 
if  you  choose  such  things  as  have  no 
amusement  in  them,  at  all  ?  " 

"  The  pleasure  of  working,"  said  his 
father,  "  is  not  the  fun  of  doing  amusing 
things,  but  the  satisfaction  and  solid  hap- 
piness of  being  faithful  in  duty,  and  ac- 
complishing some  useful  purpose.  For 
example,  if  I  were  to  lose  my  pocket-book 
on  the  road,  and  should  tell  you  to  walk1 
back  a  mile,  and  look  carefully  all  the  way 


54    THE  TWO  LITTLE   WHEELBARROWS. 

until  you  found  it,  and  if  you  did  it  faith- 
fully and  carefully,  you  would  find  a  kind 
of  satisfaction  in  doing  it ;  and  when  you 
found  the  pocket-book,  and  brought  it  back 
to  me,  you  would  enjoy  a  high  degree  of 
happiness.     Should  not  you  ?  " 

"  Why,  yes,  sir,  I  should,"  said  Rollo. 

"  And  yet  there  would  be  no  amuse- 
ment in  it.  You  might,  perhaps,  the  next 
day,  go  over  the  same  road,  catching  but- 
terflies :  that  would  be  amusement.  Now, 
the  pleasure  you  would  enjoy  in  looking 
for  the  pocket-book,  would  be  the  solid 
satisfaction  of  useful  work.  The  pleas- 
ure of  catching  butterflies  would  be  the 
amusement  of  play.  Now,  the  difficulty 
is,  with  you,  that  you  have  scarcely  any 
idea,  yet,  of  the  first.  You  are  all  the 
time  looking  for  the  other,  that  is,  the 
amusement.  You  begin  to  work  when  I 
give  you  any  thing  to  do,  but  if  you  do  not 
find  amusement  in  it,  you  soon  give  it  up. 
But  if  you  would  only  persevere,  you 
would  find,  at  length,  a  solid  satisfaction, 
that  would  be  worth  a  great  deal  more." 

Rollo  sat  still,  and  listened,  but  his 
father  saw,  from  his  looks,  that  he  was 
not  much  interested  in  what  he  was  say- 


THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS.     55 

ing ;  and  he  perceived  that  it  was  not  at 
all  probable  that  so  small  a  boy  could  be 
reasoned  into  liking  work.  In  fact,  it  was 
rather  hard  for  Rollo  to  understand  all 
that  his  father  said, — and  still  harder  for 
him  to  feel  the  force  of  it.  He  began  to 
grow  sleepy,  and  so  his  father  let  him  go 
to  bed. 


ROLLO  LEARNS  TO,  WORK  AT  LAST. 

The  next  day  his  father  gave  him  his 
work.  He  was  to  begin  at  ten  o'clock, 
and  work  till  eleven,  gathering  beans  in 
the  garden.  His  father  went  out  with 
him,  and  waited  to  see  how  long  it  took  him 
to  gather  half  a  pint,  and  then  calculated 
howT  many  he  could  gather  in  an  hour,  if 
he  was  industrious.  Rollo  knew  that  if 
he  failed  now,  he  should  be  punished  in 
some  way,  although  his  father  did  not  say 
any  thing  about  punishment.  When  he 
was  set  at  work  the  day  before,  about  the 
nails,  he  was  making  an  experiment,  as  it 
were,  and  he  did  not  expect  to  be  actual- 
ly punished  if  he  failed ;  but  now  he  knew 
that  he  was  under  orders,  and  must  obey. 


56    THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS. 

So  he  worked  very  diligently,  and  when 
his  father  came  out  at  the  end  of  the  hour, 
he  found  that  Rollo  had  got  rather  more 
beans  than  he  had  expected.  Rollo  was 
much  gratified  to  see  his  father  pleased ; 
and  he  carried  in  his  large  basket  full  of 
beans  to  show  his  mother,  with  great 
pleasure.  Then  he  went  to  play,  and 
enjoyed  himself  very  highly. 

The  next  morning,  his  father  said  to 
him, 

"  Well,  Rollo,  you  did  very  well  yester- 
day ;  but  doing  right  once  is  a  very  differ- 
ent thing  from  forming  a  habit  of  doing 
right.  I  can  hardly  expect  you  will  suc- 
ceed as  well  to-day ;  or,  if  you  should  to- 
day, that  you  will  to-morrow." 

Rollo  thought  he  should.  His  work 
was  to  pick  up  all  the  loose  stones  in  the 
road,  and  carry  them,  in  a  basket,  to  a 
great  heap  of  stones  behind  the  barn. 
But  he  was  not  quite  faithful.  His  father 
observed  him  playing  several  times.  He 
did  not  speak  to  him,  however,  until  the 
hour  was  over,  and  then  he  called  him  in. 

"  Rollo,"  said  he,  "  you  have  failed  to- 
day. You  have  not  been  very  idle,  but 
have  not  been  industrious;  and  the  pun- 


THE  TWO  LITTLE   WHEELBARROWS.     57 

ishment  which  I  have  concluded  to  try 
first,  is,  to  give  you  only  bread  and  water 
for  dinner." 

So,  when  dinner  time  came,  and  the 
family  sat  down  to  the  good  beefsteak 
and  apple-pie  which  was  upon  the  table, 
Rollo  knew  that  he  was  not  to  come. 
He  felt  very  unhappy,  but  he  did  not  cry. 
His  father  called  him,  and  cut  off  a  good 
slice  of  bread,  and  put  into  his  hands,  and 
told  him  he  might  go  and  eat  it  on  the 
steps  of  the  back  door.  "  If  you  should 
be  thirsty,"  he  added,  "  you  may  ask 
Mary  to  give  you  some  water." 

Rollo  took  the  bread,  and  went  out,  and 
took  his  solitary  seat  on  the  stone  step 
leading  into  the  back  yard,  and,  in  spite 
of  all  his  efforts  to  prevent  it,  the  tears 
would  come  into  his  eyes.  He  thought 
of  his  guilt  in  disobeying  his  father,  and 
he  felt  unhappy  to  think  that  his  father 
and  mother  were  seated  together  at  their 
pleasant  table,  and  that  he  could  not  come 
because  he  had  been  an  undutiful  son. 
He  determined  that  he  would  never  be 
unfaithful  in  his  work  again. 

He  went  on,  after  this,  several  days, 
very  well*     His  father  gave  him  various 


58    THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS. 

kinds  of  work  to  do,  and  he  began  at  last 
to  find  a  considerable  degree  of  satisfac- 
tion in  doing  it.  He  found,  particularly, 
that  he  enjoyed  himself  a  great  deal  more 
after  his  work  than  before,  and  whenever 
he  saw  what  he  had  done,  it  gave  him 
pleasure.  After  he  had  picked  up  the 
loose  stones  before  the  house,  for  instance, 
he  drove  his  hoop  about  there,  with  un- 
usual satisfaction  ;  enjoying  the  neat  and 
tidy  appearance  of  the  road  much-  more 
than  he  would  have  done  if  Jonas  had 
cleared  it.  In  fact,  in  the  course  of  a 
month,  Rollo  became  quite  a  faithful  and 
efficient  little  workman. 


THE  CORPORAL'S   AGAIN. 

"  Now,"  said  his  father  to  him  one  day, 
after  he  had  been  doing  a  fine  job  of  wood- 
piling, — "  now  wre  will  go  and  talk  with 
the  corporal  about  a  wheelbarrow.  Or  do 
you  think  you  could  find  the  way  your- 
self?" 

Rollo  said  lie  thought  he  could. 

%  Very  well,  you  may  go ;  I  believe  I 


THE  TWO  LITTLE  "WHEELBARROWS.    59 

shall  let  you  have  a  wheelbarrow  now,  and 
you  can  ask  him  how  soon  he  can  have  it 
done." 

Rollo  clapped  his  hands,  and  capered 
about,  and  asked  his  father  how  long  he 
thought  it  would  be  before  he  could  have  it. 

"  O,  you  will  learn,"  said  he,  "  when 
you  come  to  talk  with  the  corporal." 

"  Do  you  think  it  will  be  a  week  ?  " 

"  I  think  it  probable  that  he  could  make 
one  in  less  than  a  week,"  said  his  father, 
smiling.  » 

"  Well,  how  soon  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  O,  I  cannot  tell  you :  wait  till  you  get 
to  his  shop,  and  then  you  will  see." 

Rollo  saw  that,  for  some  reason  or 
other,  his  father  was  not  inclined  to  talk 
about  the  time  when  he  should  have  his 
wheelbarrow,  but  he  could  not  think  why ; 
however,  he  determined  to  get  the  cor- 
poral to  make  it  as  quick  as  he  could,  at 
any  rate. 

It  was  about  the  middle  of  the  afternoon 
that  Rollo  set  off  to  go  for  his  wheelbar- 
row. His  mother  told  him  he  might  go 
and  get  his  cousin  James  to  go  with  him 
if  he  chose.     So  he  walked  along  towards 


60    THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS. 

the  bridge,  and,  instead  of  turning  at  once 
off  there  to  go  towards  the  mill,  he  went 
on  over  the  bridge  towards  the  house 
where  James  lived.  James  came  with 
him,  and  they  walked  back  very  pleasant- 
ly together. 

When  they  got  back  across  the  bridge 
again,  they  turned  off  towards  the  mill, 
talking  about  the  wheelbarrow.  Rollo 
told  James  about  his  learning  to  work,  and 
about  his  having  seen  the  wheelbarrow  at 
the  corporaPs,  and  how  he  trundled  it 
about,  and  liked  it  very  much. 

"  I  should  like  to  see  it  very  much," 
said  James.  a  I  suppose  I  can,  when  we 
get  to  the  corporaPs  shop." 

"  No,"  said  Rollo,  "  he  said  that  that 
wheelbarrow  was  engaged ;  and  I  suppose 
it  has  been  taken  away  before  this  time." 

Just  then  the  corner  of  the  corporaPs 
shop  began  to  come  into  view,  and  pres- 
ently the  door  came  in  sight,  and  James 
called  out, 

"  Yes,  yes,  there  it  is.  I  see  it  stand- 
ing up  by  the  side  of  the  door." 

"  No,"  said  Rollo, "  that  is  not  it.  That 
is  a  green  one." 


THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS.     61 

"  What  color  was  the  wheelbarrow  that 
you  saw  ?  "  asked  James. 

"  It  was  not  any  color ;  it  was  not 
painted,"  said  Rollo.  "I  wonder  whose 
that  wheelbarrow  can  be  ?  " 

The  boys  walked  along,  and  presently 
came  to  the  door  of  the  shop.  They 
opened  the  door,  and  went  in.  There 
was  nobody  there. 

Various  articles  were  around  the  room. 
There  was  a  bench  at  one  side,  near  a 
window;  and  there  were  a  great  many 
tools  upon  it,  and  upon  shelves  over  it. 
On  another  side  of  the  shop  was  a  lathe, 
a  curious  sort  of  a  machine,  that  the  cor- 
poral used  a  great  deal,  in  some  of  his 
nicest  work.  Then  there  were  a  good 
many  things  there,  which  were  sent  in  to 
be  mended,  such  as  chairs,  a  spinning- 
wheel,  boys'  sleds,  and  one  or  two  large 
wheelbarrows. 

The  boys  walked  around  the  room  a 
few  minutes,  looking  at  the  various  things ; 
and  at  last  Rollo  spied  another  little 
wheelbarrow,  on  a  shelf.  It  was  very 
much  like  the  one  at  the  door,  only  it  was 
painted  green. 

Rollo  said  that  that  one  looked  exactly 


6'2     THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS. 

like  the  one  he  trundled  when  he  was 
there  before,  only  it  was  green. 

"  Perhaps  he  has  painted  it  since,"  said 
James;  "let  us  go  to  the  door,  and  look 
at  the  other  one,  and  see  which  is  the 
biggest." 

So  they  went  to  the  door,  and  found 
that  the  blue  one  was  a  little  the  big- 
gest. 

Just  then  they  saw  the  corporal  coming 
across  the  road,  with  a  hatchet  in  his  hand. 
He  had  been  to  grind  it  at  the  mill,  where 
there  was  a  grindstone,  that  went  round 
by  water. 

"  Ah,  boys,"  said  he,  "  how  do  you  do  ? 
Have  you  come  for  your  wheelbarrow, 
Rollo." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo ;  "  how  soon  can 
you  get  it  done  ?  " 

"  Done  ?  it  is  done  now,"  said  he  ; 
"  there  it  is."  And  he  took  the  blue 
wheelbarrow,  which  was  at  the  door,  and 
set  it  down  in  the  path. 

"That  is  not  mine,"  said  Rollo,  "is 
it?" 

"  Yes,"  said  the  corporal ;  "  your  father 
spoke  for  it  a  week  ago." 

Rollo  took  hold  of  his  wheelbarrow, 


THE  TWO  LITTLE  WHEELBARROWS.     63 

and  began  to  wheel  it  along.  He  liked 
it  very  much. 

James  said  he  wished  he  could  have 
one  too ;  and  while  Rollo  was  talking  with 
the  corporal,  he  could  not  help  looking  at 
the  green  one  on  the  shelf,  which  he 
thought  was  just  about  as  big  as  he  should 
like. 

The  corporal  asked  him  if  he  wanted  to 
see  that  one,  and  he  took  it  down  for  him. 
James  took  hold  of  the  handles,  and  tried 
it  a  little,  back  and  forth  on  the  floor,  and 
then  he  said  it  was  just  about  big  enough 
for  him. 

"  Who  is  this  for  ?  n  said  he  to  the  cor- 
poral. 

"  I  do  not  know,"  said  the  corporal ;  "  a 
gentleman  bespoke  it  some  time  ago.  I 
do  not  know  what  his  name  is." 

Just  then  he  seemed  to  see  somebody 
out  of  the  window. 

"Ah!  here  he  comes  now ! "  he  ex- 
claimed suddenly. 

Just  then  the  door  opened,  and  whom 
should  the  boys  see  coming  in,  but  their 
uncle  George ! 

"  Why,  James,"  said  he,  "  have  you 
got  hold  of  your  wheelbarrow  already  ?  " 


64     THE  TWO  LITTLE    WHEELBARROWS. 

"  My  wheelbarrow  !  "  said  James.  "  Is 
this  mine  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  his  uncle,  "  I  got  it  made 
to  give  to  jou.  But  when  I  found  that 
Rollo  was  having  one  made,  I  waited  for 
his  to  be  done,  so  that  you  might  have 
them  both  together.  So  trundle  them 
home." 

So  the  boys  set  off  on  the  run  down  the 
road,  in  fine  style,  with  their  wheelbarrows 
trundling  beautifully  before  them  * 

*  See  picture  at  the  beginning  of  tbia  story. 


CAUSEY-BUILDING. 


ROLLO  AND  JAMES  AT  THEIR  WORK. 

Page  87. 


'  5 


CAUSEY-BUILDING 


SAND-MEN. 


Next  to  little  wooden  blocks,  I  think 
that  good,  clean  sand  is  an  excellent  thing 
for  children  to  play  with.  When  it  is  a 
little  damp,  it  will  remain  in  any  shape 
you  put  it  in,  and  you  can  build  houses 
and  cities,  and  make  roads  and  canals  in 
it.  At  any  rate,  Rollo  and  his  cousin 
James  used  to  be  very  fond  of  going 
down  to  a  certain  place  in  the  brook, 
where  there  was  plenty  of  sand,  and 
playing  in  it.  It  was  of  a  gray  color, 
and  somewhat  mixed  with  pebble-stones ; 
but  then  they  used  to  like  the  pebble- 
stones very  much  to  make  walls  with, 
and  to  stone  up  the  little  wells  which 
they  made  in  the  sand. 

One  Wednesday  afternoon,  they  were 
there  playing  very  pleasantly  with  the 
sand.    They  had  been  building  a  famous 


68  CAUSEY-BUILDING. 

city,  and,  after  amusing  themselves  with 
it  some  time,  they  had  knocked  down  the 
houses,  and  trampled  the  sand  all  about 
again.  James  then  said  he  meant  to  go 
to  the  barn  and  get  his  horse-cart,  and 
haul  a  load  of  sand  to  market. 

Now  there  was  a  place  around  behind 
a  large  rock  near  there,  which  the  boys 
called  their  barn ;  and  Rollo  and  James 
went  to  it,  and  pulled  out  their  two  little 
wheelbarrows,  which  they  called  their 
horse-carts.  They  wheeled  them  down 
to  the  edge  of  the  water,  and  began  to 
take  up  the  sand  by  double  handfuls,  and 
put  it  in. 

When  they  had  got  their  carts  loaded, 
they  began  to  wheel  them  around  to  the 
trees,  and  stones,  and  bushes,  saying, 
"  Who'll  buy  my  sand  ?  " 
"  Who'll  buy  my  white  sand  ?  " 
"  Who'll  buy  my  gray  sand  ?  " 
"  Who'll  buy  my  black  sand  ?  " 
But  they  did  not  seem  to  find  any  pur- 
chaser ;  and  at  last  Rollo  said,  suddenly, 
"  O,  I  know  who  will  buy  our  sand." 
"  Who  ?  "  said  James. 
"  Mother." 

"  So  she  will,"  said  James.  "We  wiH 
wheel  it  up  to  the  house." 


CAUSEY-BUILDING.  69 

•  So  they  set  off,  and  began  wheeling 
their  loads  of  sand  up  the  pathway  among 
the  trees.  They  went  on  a  little  way, 
and  presently  stopped,  and  sat  down  on 
a  bank  to  rest.  Here  they  found  a  num- 
ber of  flowers,  which  they  gathered  and 
stuck  up  in  the  sand,  so  that  their  loads 
soon  made  a  very  gay  appearance. 

Just  as  they  were  going  to  set  out 
again,  Rollo  said, 

"  But,  James,  how  are  we  going  to  get 
through  the  quagmire  ?  " 

"  O,"  said  James,  "■  we  can  step  along 
on  the  bank  by  the  side  of  the  path. 

"  No,"  said  Rollo ;  "  for  we  cannot  get 
our  wheelbarrows  along  there." 

"  Why,  yes, — we  got  them  along  there 
when  we  came  down." 

"  But  they  were  empty  and  light  then ; 
now  they  are  loaded  and  heavy." 

"  So  they  are  ;  but  I  think  we  can  get 
along ;  it  is  not  very  muddy  there  now." 

The  place  which  the  boys  called  the 
quagmire,  was  a  low  place  in  the  path- 
way, where  it  was  almost  always  muddy. 
This  pathway  was  made  by  the  cows, 
going  up  and  down  to  drink ;  and  it  was 
a  good,  dry,  and  hard  path  in  all  places 


70  CAUSEY-BUILDING. 

but  one.  This,  in  the  spring  of  the  year, 
was  very  wet  and  miry ;  and,  during  the 
whole  summer,  it  was  seldom  perfectly 
dry.  The  boys  called  it  the  quagmire, 
and  they  used  to  get  by  on  one  side,  in 
among  the  bushes. 

They  found  that  it  was  not  very  muddy 
at  this  time,  and  they  contrived  to  get 
through  with  their  loads  of  sand,  and  soon 
got  to  the  house.  They  trundled  their 
wheelbarrows  up  to  the  door  leading  out 
to  the  garden ;  and  Rollo  knocked  at  the 
door. 

Now  Rollo's  mother  happened,  at  this 
time,  to  be  sitting  at  the  back-parlor  win- 
dow, and  she  heard  their  voices  as  they 
came  along  the  yard.  So,  supposing  the 
knocking  was  some  of  their  play,  she  just 
looked  out  of  the  window,  and  called  out, 

"  Who's  there  ?  " 

"  Some  sand-men,"  Rollo  answered, 
"  who  have  got  some  sand  to  sell." 

His  mother  looked  out  of  the  window, 
and  had  quite  a  talk  with  them  about  their 
sand;  she  asked  them  where  it  came 
from,  what  color  it  was,  and  whether  it 
was  free  from  pebble-stones.  The  boys 
had  to  admit  that  there  were  a  good  many 


CAUSEY-BUILDING.  71 

pebble-stones  in  it,  and  that  pebble-stones 
were  not  very  good  to  seour  floors  with. 


THE  GRAY  GARDEN 

At  last,  Rollo's  mother  recommended 
that  they  should  carry  the  sand  out  to  a 
corner  of  the  yard,  where  the  chips  used 
to  be,  and  spread  it  out  there,  and  stick 
their  flowers  up  in  it  for  a  garden. 

The  boys  liked  this  plan  very  much. 
"  We  can  make  walks  and  beds,  beauti- 
fully, in  the  sand,"  said  Rollo.  "But, 
mother,  do  you  think  the  flowers  will 
grow  ?  " 

"No,"  said  his  mother,  " flowers  will 
not  grow  in  sand ;  but,  as  it  is  rather  a 
shady  place,  and  you  can  water  them  oc- 
casionally, they  will  keep  green  and  bright 
a  good  many  days,  and  then,  you  know, 
you  can  get  some  more." 

So  the  boys  wheeled  the  sand  out  to 
the  corner  of  the  yard,  took  the  flowers 
out  carefully,  and  then  tipped  the  sand 
down  and  spread  it  out.  They  tried  to 
make   walks   and  beds,  but   they  found 


72  CAUSEY  -BUILDING. 

they  had  not  got  as  much  sand  as  they 
wanted.  So  they  concluded  to  go  back 
and  get  some  more. 

In  fact,  they  found  that,  by  getting  a 
great  many  wheelbarrow  loads  of  sand, 
they  could  cover  over  the  whole  corner, 
and  make  a  noble  large  place  for  a  sand- 
garden.  And  then,  besides,  as  James 
said,  when  they  were  tired  of  it  for  a 
garden,  they  could  build  cities  there,  in- 
stead of  having  to  go  away  down  to  the 
brook. 

So  they  went  on  wheeling  their  loads 
of  sand,  for  an  hour  or  two.  James  had 
not  learned  to  work  as  well  as  Rollo  had, 
and  he  was  constantly  wanting  to  stop, 
and  run  into  the  woods,  or  play  in  the 
water;  but  Rollo  told  him  it  would  be 
better  to  get  all  the  sand  up,  first.  They 
at  last  got  quite  a  great  heap,  and  then 
went  and  got  a  rake  and  hoe  to  level  it 
down  smooth. 

Thus  the  afternoon  passed  away ;  and 
at  last  Mary  told  the  boys  that  they  must 
come  and  get  ready  for  tea,  for  she  was 
going  to  carry  it  in  soon. 


CAUSEY-BUILDING.  73 


A  CONTRACT. 


So  Rollo  and  James  brushed  the  loose 
sand  from  their  clothes,  and  washed  their 
faces  and  hands,  and  went  in.  As  tea 
was  not  quite  ready,  they  sat  down  on 
the  front-door  steps  before  Rollo's  father, 
who  was  then  sitting  in  his  arm-chair  in 
the  entry,  reading. 

He  shut  up  the  book,  and  began  to  talk 
with  the  boys. 

"  Well,  boys,"  said  he,  "  what  have 
you  been  doing  all  this  afternoon  ?  " 

"  O,"  said  Rollo,  "  we  have  been  hard 
at  work." 

"  And  what  have  you  been  doing  ?  " 

Rollo  explained  to  his  father  that  they 
had  been  making  a  sand-garden  out  in  a 
corner  of  the  yard,  and  they  both  asked 
him  to  go  with  them  and  see  it. 

They  all  three  accordingly  went  out 
behind  the  house,  the  children  running 
on  before. 

"But,  boys,"  said  Rollo's  father,  as 
they  went  on,  "  how  came  your  feet  so 
muddy  ?  " 

"  O,"  said  James*  "  they  got  muddy 
in  the  quagmire."     G 


74  CAUSEY-BUILDING. 

The  boys  explained  how  they  could 
not  go  around  the  quagmire  with  their 
loaded  wheelbarrows,  and  so  had  to  pick 
their  way  through  it  the  best  way  they 
could;  and  thus  they  got  their  shoes  mud- 
dy a  little ;  but  they  said  they  were  as 
careful  as  they  could  be. 

When  they  came  to  the  sand-garden, 
Rollo's  father  smiled  to  see  the  beds  and 
walks,  and  the  rows  of  flowers  stuck  up 
in  the  sand.  It  made  quite  a  gay  ap- 
pearance. After  looking  at  it  some  time, 
they  went  slowly  back  again,  and  as  they 
were  walking  across  the  yard, 

"  Father,5'  said  Rollo,  "  do  you  not 
think  that  is  a  pretty  good  garden  ?  " 

"  Why,  yes,"  said  his  father,  "  pretty 
good." 

"  Don't  you  think  we  have  worked 
pretty  well  ?  " 

"  Why,  I  think  I  should  call  that  play, 
not  work." 

"  Not  work  !  "  said  Rollo.  "  Is  it  not 
work  to  wheel  up  such  heavy  loads  of 
sand?  You  don't  know  how  heavy  they 
were." 

"  I  dare  say  it  was  hard  ;  but  boys  play 
hard,  sometimes,  as  well  as  work  hard." 


CAUSEY-BUILDING.  75 

"But  I  should  think  ours,  this  after- 
noon, was  work,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Work,"  replied  his  father,  "  is  when 
you  are  engaged  in  doing  any  thing  in  or- 
der to  produce  some  useful  result.  When 
you  are  doing  any  thing  only  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  it,  without  any  useful  result,  it  is 
play.  Still,  in  one  sense,  your  wheeling 
the  sand  was  work.  But  it  was  not  very 
useful  work  ;  you  will  admit  that." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Well,  boys,  how  should  you  like  to 
do  some  useful  work  for  me,  with  your 
wheelbarrows  ?    I  will  hire  you." 

"  O,  we  should  like  that  very  much," 
said  James.  "  How  much  should  you 
pay  us  ?  " 

"  That  would  depend  upon  how  much 
work  you  do.  I  should  pay  you  what  the 
work  was  fairly  worth  ;  as  much  as  1 
should  have  to  pay  a  man,  if  I  were  to 
hire  a  man  to  do  it." 

"What  should  you  give  us  to  do:>" 
said  Rollo. 

"  I  don't  know.  I  should  think  of 
some  job.  How  should  you  like  to  fill  up 
the  quagmire  ?  " 

"Fill  up  the  quagmire!"  said  Rollo. 
"  How  could  we  do  that  ?  " 


76  CAUSEY-BUILDING. 

"You  might  fill  it  up  with  stones. 
There  are  a  great  many  small  stones  ly- 
ing around  there,  which  you  might  pick 
up  and  put  into  your  wheelbarrows,  and 
wheel  them  along,  and  tip  them  over  into 
the  quagmire ;  and  when  you  have  filled 
the  path  all  up  with  stones,  cover  them 
over  with  gravel,  and  it  will  make  a  good 
causey." 

"  Causey  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  Yes,  causey,"  said  his  father  ;  "  such 
a  hard,  dry  road,  built  along  a  muddy 
place,  is  called  a  causey." 

They  had  got  to  the  tea-table  by  this 
time  ;  and  while  at  tea,  Rollo's  father 
explained  the  plan  to  them  more  fully. 
He  said  he  would  pay  them  a  cent  for 
every  two  loads  of  stones  or  gravel  which 
they  should  wheel  in  to  make  the  causey. 

They  were  going  to  ask  some  more 
questions  about  it,  but  he  told  them  he 
could  not  talk  any  more  about  it  then, 
but  that  they  might  go  and  ask  Jonas 
how  they  should  do  it,  after  tea. 


CAUSEY-BUILDING.  77 


INSTRUCTIONS. 

They  went  out  into  the  kitchen,  after 
tea,  to  find  Jonas ;  but  he  was  not  there. 
They  then  went  out  into  the  yard ;  and 
presently  James  saw  him  over  beyond 
the  fence,  walking  along  the  lane.  Rollo 
called  out, 

"  Jonas !  Jonas !  where  are  you  go- 
ing?" 

"  I  am  going  after  the  cows." 

"  We  want  you !  "  said  Rollo,  calling 
out  loud. 

"What  for?"  said  Jonas. 

"We  want  to  talk  with  you  about 
something." 

Just  then,  Rollo's  mother,  hearing  this 
hallooing,  looked  out  of  the  window,  and 
told  the  boys  they  must  not  make  so  much 
noise. 

"Why,  we  want  Jonas,"  said  Rollo; 
"  and  he  has  gone  to  get  the  cows." 

"Well,  you  may  go  with  him,"  said 
she,  "  if  you  wish ;  and  you  can  talk  on 
the  way." 

So  the  boys  took  their  hats  and  ran, 
and  soon  came  to  where  Jonas  was  ;   for 


78  CAUSEY-BUILDING. 

he  had  been  standing  still,  waiting  for 
them. 

They  walked  along  together,  and  the 
boys  told  Jonas  what  their  father  had 
said.  Jonas  said  he  should  be  very  glad 
to  have  the  quagmire  filled  up,  but  he  was 
afraid  it  would  not  do  any  good  for  him 
to  give  them  any  directions. 

"  Why  ?  "  said  James. 

"  Because,"  said  Jonas,  "  little  boys 
will  never  follow  any  directions.  They 
always  want  to  do  the  work  their  own 
way." 

"  O,  but  wre  will  obey  the  directions," 
said  Rollo. 

"  Do  you  remember  about  the  wood- 
pile ?  "  said  Jonas. 

Rollo  hung  his  head,  and  looked  a  little 
ashamed. 

iC  What  was  it  about  the  wood-pile  ?  " 
said  James. 

"Why,  I  told  Rollo,"  said  Jonas,  "that 
he  ought  to  pile  wood  with  the  big  ends 
in  front,  but  he  did  not  mind  it ;  he 
thought  it  was  better  to  have  the  big  ends 
back,  out  of  sight ;  and  that  made  the 
pile  lean  forward;  and  presently  it  all  fell 
over  upon  him." 


CAUSEY-BUILDING.       .  79 

"  Did  it  ?"  said  James.  "  Did  it  hurt 
you  much,  Rollo  ?  " 

"No,  not  much.  But  we  will  follow 
the  directions  now,  Jonas,  if  jou  will  tell 
us  what  to  do." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Jonas,  "  I  will  try 
you. 

"  In  the  first  place,  you  must  get  a  few 
old  pieces  of  board,  and  lay  them  along 
the  quagmire  to  step  upon,  so  as  not  to 
get  your  feet  muddy.  Then  you  must  go 
and  get  a  load  of  stones,  in  each  wheel- 
barrow, and  wheel  them  along.  You  must 
not  tip  them  down  at  the  beginning  of 
the  muddy  place,  for  then  they  will  be  in 
your  way  when  you  come  with  the  next 
load. 

"  You  must  go  on  with  them,  one  of 
you  right  behind  the  other,  both  stepping 
carefully  on  the  boards,  till  you  get  to  the 
farther  end,  and  there  tip  them  over  both 
together.  Then  you  must  turn  round  your- 
selves, but  not  turn  your  wheelbarrows 
round.  You  must  face  the  other  way,  and 
draw  your  wheelbarrows  out." 

"  Why  ?  "  said  James. 

"  Because,"  said  Jonas,  "  it  would  be 
difficult  to  turn  your  wheelbarrows  round 


80  CAUSEY-BUILDING. 

there  among  the  mud  and  stones,  but  you 
can  draw  them  out  very  easily. 

"  Then,  besides,  you  must  not  attempt 
to  go  by  one  another.  You  must  both 
stop  at  the  same  time,  but  as  near  one 
another  as  you  can,  and  go  out  just  as 
you  came  in;  that  is,  if  Rollo  came  in 
first,  and  James  after  him,  James  must 
come  up  as  near  to  Rollo  as  he  can,  and 
then,  when  the  loads  are  tipped  over, 
and  you  both  turn  round,  James  will  be 
before  Rollo,  and  will  draw  his  wheel- 
barrow out  first.     Do  you  understand?" 

"  Yes,"  said  James. 

"Must  we  always  go  in  together?" 
asked  Rollo. 

"  Yes,  that  is  better." 

«  Why  ?  " 

"  Because,  if  you  go  in  at  different  times, 
you  will  be  in  one  another's  way.  One 
will  be  going  out  when  the  other  is  com- 
ing in,  and  so  you  will  interfere  with  one 
another.  Then,  besides,  if  you  fill  the 
wheelbarrows  together,  and  wheel  to- 
gether, you  will  always  be  in  company, — ; 
which  is  pleasanter." 

"  Well,  we  will,"  said  Rollo. 

"After  you  have   wheeled    one   load 


CAUSEY-BUILDING.  81 

apiece  in,  you  must  go  and  get  another, 
and  wheel  that  in  as  far  as  you  can.  Tip 
them  over  on  the  top  of  the  others,  if  you 
can,  or  as  near  as  you  can.  Each  time 
you  will  not  go  in  quite  so  far  as  before, 
so  that  at  last  you  will  have  covered  the 
quagmire  all  over  with  stones  once." 

"  And  then  must  we  put  on  the  gravel  ?  " 

"O  no.  That  will  not  be  stones 
enough.  They  would  sink  down  into  the 
mud,  and  the  water  would  come  up  over 
them.     So  you  must  wheel  on  more." 

"  But  how  can  we  ?  "  said  James.  "  We 
cannot  wheel  on  the  top  of  all  those  stones." 

"  No,"  said  Jonas ;  "  so  you  must  go  up 
to  the  house  and  get  a  pretty  long,  narrow 
board,  as  long  as  you  and  Rollo  can  carry, 
and  bring  it  down  and  lay  it  along  on  the 
top  of  the  stones.  Perhaps  you  will  have 
to  move  the  stones  a  little,  so  as  to  make 
it  steady ;  and  then  you  can  wheel  on 
that.  If  one  board  is  not  long  enough, 
you  must  go  and  get  two.  And  you  must 
put  them  down  on  one  side  of  the  path, 
so  that  the  stones  will  go  into  the  middle 
of  the  path  and  upon  the  other  side,  so  as 
not  to  cover  up  the  board. 

"Then,  when  you  have  put  loads  of 
6 


82  CAUSEY-BUILDING. 

stones  all  along  in  this  way,  you  must 
shift  your  boards  over  to  the  other  side  of 
the  path,  and  then  wheel  on  them  again ; 
and  that  will  fill  up  the  side  where  the 
boards  lay  at  first.  And  so,  after  a  while, 
you  will  get  the  whole  pathway  filled  up 
with  stones,  as  high  as  you  please.  I  should 
think  you  had  better  fill  it  up  nearly  level 
with  the  bank  on  each  side." 

By  this  time  the  boys  came  to  the  bars 
that  led  into  the  pasture,  and  they  went 
in  and  began  to  look  about  for  the  cows. 
Jonas  did  not  see  them  any  where  near, 
and  so  he  told  the  boys  that  they  might 
stay  there  and  pick  some  blackberries, 
while  he  went  on  and  found  them.  He 
said  he  thought  that  they  must  be  out  by 
the  boiling  spring. 

This  boiling  spring,  as  they  called  it, 
was  a  beautiful  spring,  from  which  fine 
cool  water  was  always  boiling  up  out  of 
the  sand.  It  was  in  a  narrow  glen,  shaded 
by  trees,  and  the  water  running  down  into 
a  little  sort  of  meadow,  kept  the  grass 
green  there,  even  in  Very  dry  times ;  so 
that  the  cows  were  very  fond  of  this  spot. 

James  and  Rollo  remained,  according  to 
Jonas's  proposal,  near  the  bars,  while  he 


CAtJSEY-BUILDING.  83 

went  along  the  path  towards  the  spring. 
Rollo  and  James  had  a  fine  time  gather- 
ing blackberries,  until,  at  last,  they  saw 
the  cows  coming,  lowing  along  the  path. 
Presently  they  saw  Jonas's  head  among 
the  bushes. 


When  he  came  up  to  the  boys,  he  told 
them  it  was  lucky  that  they  did  not  go 
with  him. 


84  CAUSEY-BUILDING. 

"Why?"  said  Rollo. 

\"I  came  upon  an  enormous  hornet's 
nest,  and  you  would  very  probably  have 
got  stung." 

"  Where  was  it?"  said  James. 

"  O,  it  was  right  over  the  path,  just  be- 
fore you  get  to  the  spring." 

The  boys  said  they  were  very  sorry  to 
hear  that,  for  now  they  could  not  go  to 
the  spring  any  more  ;  but  Jonas  said  he 
meant  to  destroy  the  nest. 

"  How  shall  you  destroy  it?"  said 
Rollo. 

"  I  shall  burn  it  up." 

"But  how  can  you?"  said  Rollo. 

Jonas  then  explained  to  them  how  he 
was  going  to  burn  the  hornet's  nest.  He 
said  he  should  take  a  long  pole  with  two 
prongs  at  one  end  like  a  pitchfork,  and 
with  that  fork  up  a  bunch  of  hay.  Then 
he  should  set  the  top  of  the  hay  on  fire, 
and  stand  it  up  directly  under  the  nest. 

The  boys  continued  talking  about  the 
hornet's  nest  all  the  way  home,  and  forgot 
to  say  any  thing  more  about  the  causey 
until  just  as  they  were  going  into  the 
yard.  Then  they  told  Jonas  that  he  had 
not  told  them  how  to  put  on  the  gravel, 
on  the  top. 


CAUSEY-BUILDING.  85 

He  said  he  could  not  tell  them  then, 
and,  besides,  thej  would  have  as  much  as 
they  could  do  to  put  in  stones  for  one 
day. 

Besides,  James  said  it  was  sundown, 
and  time  for  him  to  go  home ;  but  he 
promised  to  come  the  next  morning,  if  his 
mother  would  let  him,  as  soon  as  he  had 
finished  his  lessons. 


KEEPING  TALLY. 

Rollo  and  James  began  their  Work  the 
next  day  about  the  middle  of  the  fore- 
noon, determined  to  obey  Jonas's  direc- 
tions exactly,  and  to  work  industriously 
for  an  hour.  They  put  a  number  of  small 
pieces  of  board  upon  their  wheelbarrows, 
to  put  along  the  pathway  at  first,  and  just 
as  they  had  got  them  placed,  Jonas  came 
down  just  to  see  whether  they  were  be- 
ginning right. 

He  saw  them  wheel  in  one  or  two 
loads  of  stones,  and  told  them  he  thought 
they  were  doing  very  well. 

"We  have  earned  one  cent  already," 
said  Rollo.  „ 


86  CAUSEY-BUILDING.    - 

4  How,"  said  Jonas ;  "is  your  father 
going  to  pay  you  for  your  work  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Rollo,  "  a  cent  for  every 
two  loads  we  put  in." 

"  Then  you  must  keep  tally,"  said 
Jonas. 

"  Tally,"  said  Rollo,  "  what  is  tally  ?  " 

"  Tally  is  the  reckoning.  How  are 
you  going  to  remember  how  many  loads 
you  wheel  in  ?  " 

"  O,  we  can  remember  easily  enough," 
said  Rollo:  "we  will  count  them  as  we 
go  along." 

"  That  will  never  do,"  said  Jonas. 
"  You  must  mark  them  down  with  a 
piece  of  chalk  on  your  wheelbarrow." 

So  saying,  Jonas  fumbled  in  his  pock- 
ets, and  drew  out  a  small,  well-worn 
piece  of  chalk,  and  then  tipped  up  Rol- 
lo's  wheelbarrow,  saying, 

•;  How  many  loads  do  you  say  you  have 
carried  already  ?  " 

"  Two,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Two,"  repeated  Jonas ;  and  he  made 
two  white  marks  with  his  chalk  on  the 
side  of  the  wheelbarrow. 

"  There  !  "  said  he. 

"  Mark  mine,"  said  James ;  "  I  have 
wheeled  two  loads." 


CAUSEY-BUILDING.  87 

Jonas  marked  them,,  and  then  laid  the 
chalk  down  upon  a  flat  stone  by  the  side 
of  the  path,  and  told  the  boys  that  they 
must  stop  after  every  load,  and  make  a 
mark,  and  that  would  keep  the  reckoning 
exact. 

Jonas  then  left  them,  and  the  boys 
went  on  with  their  work.  They  wheeled 
ten  loads  of  stones  apiece,  and  by  that 
time  had  the  bottom  of  the  path  all  cov- 
ered, so  that  they  could  not  wheel  any 
more,  without  the  long  boards.  They 
went  up  and  got  the  boards,  and  laid 
them  down  as  Jonas  had  described,  and 
then  went  on  with  their  wheeling.* 

At  first,  James  kept  constantly  stopping, 
either  to  play,  or  to  hear  Rollo  talk ;  for 
they  kept  the  wheelbarrows  together  all 
the  time,  as  Jonas  had  recommended.  At 
such  times,  Rollo  would  remind  him  of 
his  work,  for  he  had  himself  learned  to 
work  steadily.  They  were  getting  on 
very  finely,  when,  at  length,  they  heard  a 
bell  ringing  at  the  house. 

This  bell  was  to  call  them  home  ;  for 
as  Rollo  and  Jonas  were  often  away  at  a 

*  See  picture  at  the  beginning  of  this  story. 


88  CAUSEY-BUILDING. 

little  distance  from  the  house,  too  far  to 
be  called  very  easily,  there  was  a  bell  to 
ring  to  call  them  home ;  and  Mary,  the 
girl,  had  two  ways  of  ringing  it — one  way 
for  Jonas,  and  another  for  Rollo. 

The  bell  was  rung  now  for  Rollo  ;  and 
so  he  and  James  walked  along  towards 
home.  When  they  had  got  about  half 
way,  they  saw  Rollo's  father  standing  at 
the  door,  with  a  basket  in  his  hand  ;  and 
he  called  out  to  them  to  bring  their  wheel- 
barrows. 

So  the  boys  went  back  for  their  wheel- 
barrows. 

When  they  came  up  a  second  time 
with  their  wheelbarrows  before  them,  he 
asked  how  they  had  got  along  with  their 
work. 

"  O,  famously,"  said  Rollo.  a  There 
is  the  tally,"  said  he,  turning  up  the  side 
of  the  wheelbarrow  towards  his  father,  so 
that  he  could  see  all  the  marks. 

"Why,  have  you  wheeled  as  many 
loads  as  that  ?  "  said  his  father. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  "  and  James  just 
as  many  too." 

"And  were  they  all  good  loads ? " 

"  Yes,  all  good,  full  loads." 


CAUSEY-BUILDING.  89 

"  Well,  you  have  done  very  well.  Count 
them,  and  see  how  many  there  are." 

The  boys  counted  them,  and  found 
there  were  fifteen. 

"That  is  enough  to  come  to  seven 
cents,  and  one  load  over,"  said  Rollo's 
father ;  and  he  took  out  his  purse,  and 
gave  the  boys  seven  cents  each,  that  is,  a 
six-cent  piete  in  silver,  and  one  cent  be- 
sides. He  told  them  they  might  keep 
the  money  until  they  had  finished  their 
work,  and  then  he  would  tell  them  about 
purchasing  something  with  it. 

"  Now,"  said  he,  "  you  can  rub  out  the 
tally — all  but  one  mark.  I  have  paid  you 
for  fourteen  loads,  and  you  have  wheeled 
in  fifteen ;  so  you  have  one  mark  to  go  to 
the  new  tally.  You  can  go  round  to  the 
shed,  and  find  a  wet  cloth,  and  wipe  out 
your  marks  clean,  and  then  make  one 
again,  and  leave  it  there  for  to-mor- 
row." ' 

"  But  we  are  going  right  back  now," 
said  Rollo. 

"  No,"  said  his  father ;  "  I  don't  want 
you  to  do  any  more  to-day." 

"  Why  not,  father  ?  .  We  want  to,  very 
much." 

d*  h* 


90  CAUSEY-BUILDING. 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  why,  now ;  but  I 
choose  you  should  not.  And,  now,  here 
is  a  luncheon  for  you  in  this  basket.  You 
may  go  and  eat  it  where  you  please." 


RIGHTS  DEFINED. 

So  the  boys  took  the  basket,  and,  after 
they  had  rubbed  out  the  tally,  they  went 
and  sat  down  by  their  sand-garden,  and 
began  to  eat  the  bread  and  cheese  very 
happily  together. 

After  they  had  finished  their  luncheon, 
they  went  and  got  a  watering-pot,  and 
began  to  water  their  sand-garden,  and, 
while  doing  it,  began  to  talk  about  what 
they  should  buy  with  their  money.  They 
talked  of  several  things  that  they  should 
like,  and,  at  last,  Rollo  said  he  meant  to 
buy  a  bow  and  arrow  with  his. 

"  A  bow  and  arrow  ?  "  said  James.  "  I 
do  not  believe  your  father  will  let  you." 

"  Yes,  he  will  let  me,"  said  Rollo. 
"  Besides,  it  is  our  money,  and  we  can  do 
what  we  have  a  mind  to  with  it." 

"  I  don't  believe  that,"  said  James. 


CAUSEY-BUILDING.  9J 

"  Why,  yes,  we  can,"  said  Rollo. 

"  I  don't  believe  we  can,"  said  James. 

"  Well,  I  mean  to  go  and  ask  my  fa- 
ther," said  Rollo,  "  this  minute." 

So  he  laid  down  the  watering-pot,  and 
ran  in,  and  James  after  him.  When  they 
got  into  the  room  where  his  father  was, 
they  came  and  stood  by  his  side  a  minute, 
waiting  for  him  to  be  ready  to  speak  to 
them. 

Presently,  his  father  laid  down  his  pen, 
and  said, 

"  What,  my  boys  !  " 

"  Is  not  this  money  our  own  ?  "  said 
Rollo. 

"  Yes." 

"  And  can  we  not  buy  what  we  have  a 
mind  to  with  it  ?  " 

"  That  depends  upon  what  you  have  a 
mind  to  buy." 

"But,  father,  I  should  think  that,  if  it 
was  our  own,  we  might  do  any  thing  with 
it  we  please." 

"  No,"  said  his  father,  "  that  does  not 
follow,  at  all." 

"  Why,  father,"  said  Rollo,  looking  dis- 
appointed, "  I  thought  every  body  could 


92  CAUSEY-BUILDING.  , 

do  what  they  pleased  with  their  own 
things." 

*  Whose  hat  is  that  you  have  on  ?  Is  it 
James's  ?  " 

"No,  sir,  it  is  mine." 

"  Are  you  sure  it  is  your  own  ?  " 

"  Why,  yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  taking  off 
his  hat  and  looking  at  it,  and  wondering 
what  his  father  could  mean. 

"  Well,  do  you  suppose  you  have  aright 
to  go  and  sell  it  ?  " 

"  No,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Or  go  and  burn  it  up  ?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Or  give  it  away  ?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Then  it  seems  that  people  cannot  al- 
ways do  what  they  please  with  their  own 
things." 

"  Why,  father,  it  seems  to  me,  that  is  a 
very  different  thing." 

"I  dare  say  it  seems  so  to  you ;  but  it 
is  not — it  is  just  the  same  thing.  No 
person  can  do  any  thing  they  please  with 
their  property.  There  are  limits  and  re- 
strictions in  all  cases.  And  in  all  cases 
where  children  have  property,  whether  it 


CAUSEY-BUILDING.  93 

is  money,  hats,  toys,  or  any  thing,  they 
are  always  limited  and  restricted  to  such 
a  use  of  them  as  their  parents  approve. 
So,  when  I  give  you  money,  it  becomes 
yours  just  as  your  clothes,  or  your  wheel- 
barrow, or  your  books,  are  yours.  They 
are  all  yours  to  use  and  to  enjoy ;  but  in 
the  way  of  using  them  and  enjoying  them, 
you  must  be  under  my  direction.  Do  you 
understand  that  ?  " 

"  Why,  yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

"  And  does  it  not  appear  reasonable  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,  I  don't  know  but  it  is  rea- 
sonable. But  men  can  do  any  thing  they 
please  with  their  money,  can  they  not  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  his  father ;  "  they  are  un- 
der various  restrictions  made  by  the  laws 
of  the  land.  But  I  cannot  talk  any  more 
about  it  now.  When  you  have  finished 
your  work,  I  will  talk  with  you  about 
expending  your  money." 

The  boys  went  on  with  their  work  the 
next  day,  and  built  the  causey  up  high 
enough  with  stones.  They  then  levelled 
them  off,  and  began  to  wheel  on  the  gravel. 
Jonas  made,  each  of  them  a  little  shovel 
out  of  a  shingle ;  and,  as  the  gravel  was 


94  CAUSEY-BUILDING. 

lying  loose  under  a  high  bank,  they  could 
shovel  it  up  easily,  and  fill  their  wheel- 
barrows. The  third  day  they  covered  the 
stones  entirely  with  gravel,  and  smoothed 
it  all  over  with  a  rake  and  hoe,  and,  after 
it  had  become  well  trodden,  it  made  a 
beautiful,  hard  causey ;  so  that  now  there 
Was  a  firm  and  dry  road  all  the  way  from 
the  house  to  the  watering-place  at  the 
brook. 


CALCULATION. 

On  counting  up  the  loads  which  it  had 
taken  to  do  this  work,  Rollo's  father  found 
that  he  owed  Rollo  twenty-three  cents, 
and  James  twenty-one.  The  reason  why 
Rollo  had  earned  the  most  was  because, 
at  one  time,  James  said  he  was  tired,  and 
must  rest,  and,  while  he  was  resting, 
Rollo  went  on  wheeling. 

James  seemed  rather  sorry  that  he  had 
not  got  as  many  cents  as  Rollo. 

"I  wish  I  had  not  stopped  to  rest," 
said  he. 

"I  wish  so  too,"  said  Rollo;   "but  I 


CAL'SfiY-BUlLDING.  95 

will  give  you  two  of  my  cents,  and  then 
I  shall  have  only  twenty-one,  like  you." 

"  Shall  we  be  alike  then  ?  " 

"Yes,"  said  Rollo ;  "for,  you  see,  two 
cents  taken  away  from  twenty-three,  leaves 
twenty-one,  which  is  just  as  many  as  you 
have." 

"  Yes ;  but  then  I  shall  have  more.  If 
you  give  me  two,  /  shall  have  twenty- 
three." 

"  So  you  will,"  said  Rollo ;  "  I  did  not 
think  of  that." 

The  boys  paused  at  this  unexpected 
difficulty;  at  last,  Rollo  said  he  might 
give  his  two  cents  back  to  his  father,  and 
then  they  should  have  both  alike. 

Just  then  the  boys  heard  some  one 
calling, 

"  Rollo  !  " 

Rollo  looked  up,  and  saw  his  mother  at 
the  chamber  window.  She  was  sitting 
there  at  work,  and  had  heard  their  con- 
versation. 

"What,  mother?"  said  Rollo. 

"  You  might  give  him  one  of  yours,  and 
then  you  will  both  have  twenty-two." 

They  thought  that  this  would  be  a  fine 


96  CAUSEY-BUILDING. 

plan,  and  wondered  why  they  had  not 
thought  of  it  before.  A  few  days  after- 
wards, they  decided  to  buy  two  little 
shovels  with  their  money,  one  for  each,  so 
that  they  might  shovel  sand  and  gravel 
easier  than  with  the  wooden  shovels  that 
Jonas  made. 


EOLLO'S  GARDEN 


FARMER  CROPWELL'S. 


ROLLO'S   GARDEN. 


FARMER  CROPWELL. 

One  warm  morning,  early  in  the  spring, 
just  after  the  snow  was  melted  off  from  the 
ground,  Rollo  and  his  father  went  to  take 
a  walk.  The  ground  by  the  side  of  the 
road  was  dry  and  settled,  and  they  walked 
along  very  pleasantly ;  and  at  length  they 
came  to  a  fine -looking  farm.  The  house 
was  not  very  large,  but  there  were  great 
sheds  and  barns,  and  spacious  yards,  and 
high  wood-piles,  and  flocks  of  geese,  and 
hens  and  turkeys,  and  cattle  and  sheep, 
sunning  themselves  around  the  barns. 

Rollo  and  his  father  walked  into  the 
yard,  and  went  up  to  the  end  door,  a  large 
pig  running  away  with  a  grunt  when  they 
came  up.  The  door  was  open,  and  Rol- 
lo's  father  knocked  at  it  with  the  head  of 


100  ROLLO'S   GARDEN. 

his  cane.  A  pleasant-looking  young  wo- 
man came  to  the  door. 

"Is  Farmer  Cropwell  at  home?"  said 
Rollo's  father. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  she,  "  he  is  out  in  the 
long  barn,  I  believe." 

"  Shall  I  go  there  and  look  for  him?" 
said  he. 

"  If  you  please,  sir." 

So  Rollo's  father  walked  along  to  the 
barn. 

It  was  a  long  barn  indeed.  Rollo 
thought  he  had  never  seen  so  large  a 
building.  On  each  side  was  a  long  range 
of  stalls  for  cattle,  facing  towards  the 
middle,  and  great  scaffolds  overhead, 
partly  rilled  with  hay  and  with  bundles 
of  straw.  They  walked  down  the  barn 
floor,  and  in  one  place  Rollo  passed  a  large 
bull  chained  by  the  nose  in  one  of  the 
stalls.  The  bull  uttered  a  sort  of  low 
growl  or  roar,  as  Rollo  and  his  father 
passed,  which  made  him  a  little  afraid ; 
but  his  attention  was,  soon  attracted  to 
some  hens,  a  little  farther  along,  which 
were  standing  on  the  edge  of  the  scaffold- 
ing over  his  head,  and  cackling  with  noise 
enough  to  fill  the  whole  barn. 


HOLLO'S  GARDEN.  101 

When  they  got  to  the  other  end  of  the 
barn,  they  found  a  door  leading  out  into 
a  shed ;  and  there  was  Farmer  Cropwell, 
with  one  of  his  men  and  a  pretty  large 
boy,  getting  out  some  ploughs. 

"  Good  morning,  Mr.  Cropwell,"  said 
Rollo's  father  ;  "  what !  are  you  going  to 
ploughing  ?  " 

"  Why,  it  is  about  time  to  overhaul  the 
ploughs,  and  see  that  they  are  in  order. 
I  think  we  shall  have  an  early  season." 

"  Yes,  I  find  my  garden  is  getting  set- 
tled, and  I  came  to  talk  with  vou  a  little 
about  some  garden  seeds." 

The  truth  was,  that  Rollo's  father  was 
accustomed  to  come  every  spring,  and 
purchase  his  garden  seeds  at  this  farm ; 
and  so,  after  a  few  minutes,  they  went 
into  the  house,  taking  Rollo  with  them,  to 
get  the  seeds  that  were  wanted,  out  of 
the  seed-room. 

What  they  called  the  seed-room  was  a 
large  closet  in  the  house,  with  shelves  all 
around  it ;  and  Rollo  waited  there  a  little 
while,  until  the  seeds  were  selected,  put 
up  in  papers,  and  given  to  his  father. 

When  this  was  all  done,  and  they  were 
just  coming  out,  the  farmer  said,  "Well, 


102  ROLLO'S   GARDEN. 

my  little  boy,  you  have  been  very  still  and 
patient.  Should  not  you  like  some  seeds 
too  ?    Have  you  got  any  garden  ?  " 

"  No,  sir,"  said  Rollo;  "  but  perhaps  my 
father  will  give  me  some  ground  for  one." 

"  Well,  I  will  give  you  a  few  seeds,  at 
any  rate."  So  he  opened  a  little  drawer, 
and  took  out  some  seeds,  and  put  them  in 
a  piece  of  paper,  and  wrote  something  on 
the  outside.  Then  he  did  so  again  and 
again,  until  he  had  four  little  papers, 
which  he  handed  to  Rollo,  and  told  him 
to  plant  them  in  his  garden. 

Rollo  thanked  him,  and  took  his  seeds, 
and  they  returned  home. 


WORK  AND  PLAY. 

On  the  way,  Rollo  thought  it  would  be 
an  excellent  plan  for  him  to  have  a  gar- 
den, and  he  told  his  father  so. 

"  I  think  it  would  be  an  excellent  plan 
myself,"  said  his  father.  "But  do  you 
intend  to  make  work  or  play  of  it  ?  " 

m  Why,  I  must  make  work  of  it,  must 
not  I,  if  I  have  a  real  garden  ?  " 


ROLLO'S   GARDEN  103 

"No,"  said  his  father;  "you  may  make 
play  of  it  if  you  choose." 

"  How  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"Why,  you  can  take  a  hoe,  and  hoe 
about  in  the  ground  as  long  as  it  amuses 
you  to  hoe ;  and  then  you  can  plant  your 
seeds,  and  water  and  weed  them  just  as 
long  as  you  find  any  amusement  in  it. 
Then,  if  you  have  any  thing  else  to  play 
with,  you  can  neglect  your  garden  a  long 
time,  and  let  the  weeds  grow,  and  not 
come  and  pull  them  up  until  you  get  tired 
of  other  play,  and  happen  to  feel  like 
working  in  your  garden." 

"  I  should  not  think  that  that  would  be 
a  very  good  plan,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Why,  yes,"  replied  his  father ;  "  I 
do  not  know  but  that  it  is  a  good  plan 
enough, — that  is,  for  play.  It  is  right  for 
you  to  play  sometimes;  and  I  do  not 
know  why  you  might  not  play  with  a 
piece  of  ground,  and  seeds,  as  well  as 
with  any  thing  else." 

"Well,  father,  how  should  I  manage 
my  garden  if  I  was  going  to  make  work 
of  it?" 

"O,  then  you  would  not  do  it  for 
amusement,    but  for   the  useful   results. 


104  ROLLO'S  GARDEN. 

You  would  consider  what  you  could  raise 
to  best  advantage,  and  then  lay  out  your 
garden  ;  not  as  you  might  happen  to  fancy 
doing  it,  but  so  as  to  get  the  most  produce 
from  it.  When  you  come  to  dig  it  over, 
you  would  not  consider  how  long  you 
could  find  amusement  in  digging,  but  how 
much  digging  is  necessary  to  make  the 
ground  productive  ;  and  so  in  all  your 
operations." 

"Well,  father,  which  do  you  think 
would  be  the  best  plan  for  me  ?  " 

"  Why,  I  hardly  know.  By  making 
play  of  it,  you  will  have  the  greatest 
pleasure  as  you  go  along.  But,  in  the 
other  plan,  you  w7ill  have  some  good  crops 
of  vegetables,  fruits,  and  flowers." 

"  And  shouldn't  I  have  any  crops  if  I 
made  play  of  my  garden  ?  " 

"  Yes ;  I  think  you  might,  perhaps, 
have  some  flowers,  and,  perhaps,  some 
beans  and  peas." 

Rollo  hesitated  for  some  time  which 
plan  he  should  adopt.  He  had  worked 
enough  to  know  that  it  was  often  very 
tiresome  to  keep  on  with  his  work  when 
he  wanted  to  go  and  play :  but  then  he 
knew  that  after  it  was  over,  there  was 


ROLLO'S   GARDEN.  105 

great  satisfaction  in  thinking  of  useful 
employment,  and  in  seeing  what  had  been 
done. 

That  afternoon  he  went  out  into  the 
garden  to  consider  what  he  should  do, 
and  he  found  his  father  there,  staking  out 
some  ground. 

"Father,"  said  he,  "whereabouts  should 
you  give  me  the  ground  for  my  garden  ?  " 

"  Why,  that  depends,"  said  his  father, 
"  on  the  plan  you  determine  upon.  If 
you  are  going  to  make  play  of  it,  I  must 
give  you  ground  in  a  back  corner,  where 
the  irregularity,  and  the  weeds,  will  be 
out  of  sight.  But  if  you  conclude  to  have 
a  real  garden,  and  to  work  industriously 
a  little  while  every  day  upon  it,  I  should 
give  it  to  you  there,  just  beyond  the  pear- 
tree." 

Rollo  looked  at  the  two  places,  but  he 
could  not  make  up  his  mind.  That  even- 
ing he  asked  Jonas  about  it,  and  Jonas 
advised  him  to  ask  his  father  to  let  him 
have  both.  "  Then,"  said  he,  "  you  can. 
work  on  your  real  garden  as  long  as 
there  is  any  necessary  work  to  be  done, 
and  then  you  could  go  and  play  about  the 
other  with  James  or  Lucy,  when  they  are 
•here." 


106  ROLLO'S   GARDEN. 

Rollo  went  off  immediately,  and  asked 
his  father.  His  father  said  there  would 
be  some  difficulties  about  that;  but  he 
would  think  of  it,  and  see  if  there  was 
any  way  to  avoid  them. 

The  next  morning,  when  he  came  in  to 
breakfast,  he  had  a  paper  in  his  hand,  and 
he  told  Rollo  he  had  concluded  to  let  him 
have  the  two  gardens,  on  certain  condi- 
tions, which  he  had  written  down.  He 
opened  the  paper,  and  read  as  follows  :— 

"  Conditions  on  which  I  let  Rollo  have 
two  pieces  of  land  to  cultivate ;  the  one 
to  be  called  his  working-garden,  and  the 
other  his  playing-garden, 

"1.  In  cultivating  his  working-garden, 
he  is  to  take  Jonas's  advice,  and  to  follow 
it  faithfully  in  every  respect. 

"  2.  He  is  not  to  go  and  work  upon  his 
playing-garden,  at  any  time,  when  there 
is  any  work  that  ought  to  be  done  on  his 
working- garden.  * 

"  3.  If  he  lets  his  working-garden  get 
out  of  order,  and  I  give  him  notice  of  it ; 
then,  if  it  is  not  put  perfectly  in  order 
again  within  three  days  after  receiving 
the  notice,  he  is  to  forfeit  the  garden,  and 
all  that  is  growing  upon  it 


ROLLO'S   GARDEN.  10T 

"  4.  Whatever  he  raises,  he  may  sell  to 
me,  at  fair  prices,  at  the  end  of  the  sea- 


son." 


PLANTING. 


Rollo  accepted  the  conditions,  and 
asked  his  father  to  stake  out  the  two 
pieces  of  ground  for  him,  as  soon  as  he 
could ;  and  his  father  did  so  that  day. 
The  piece  for  the  working-garden  was 
much  the  largest.  There  was  a  row  of 
currant-bushes  near  it,  and  his  father  said 
he  might  consider  all  those  opposite  his 
piece  of  ground  as  included  in  it,  and  be- 
longing to  him. 

So  Rollo  asked  Jonas  what  he  had  bet- 
ter do  first,  and  Jonas  told  him  that  the 
first  thing  was  to  dig  his  ground  all  over, 
pretty  deep ;  and,  as  it  was  difficult  to 
begin  it,  Jonas  said  he  would  begin  it  *br 
him.  So  Jonas  began,  and  dug  along  one 
side,  and  instructed  Rollo  how  to  throw 
up  the  spadefuls  of  earth  out  of  the  way, 
so  that  the  next  spadeful  would  come  up 
easier. 

Jonas,  in  this  way,  made  a  kind  of 


108  ROLLO'S  GARDEN 

a  trench  all  along  the  side  of  Rollo's 
ground ;  and  he  told  Rollo  to  be  careful 
to  throw  every  spadeful  well  forward,  so 
as  to  keep  the  trench  open  and  free,  and 
then  it  would  be  easy  for  him  to  dig. 

Jonas  then  left  him,  and  told  him  that 
there  was  work  enough  for  him  for  three 
or  four  days,  to  dig  up  his  ground  well. 

Rollo  went  to  work,  very  patiently,  for 
the  first  day,  and  persevered  an  hour  in 
digging  up  his  ground.  Then  he  left  his 
work  for  that  day ;  and  the  next  morning, 
when  the  regular  hour  which  he  had  al- 
lotted to  work  arrived,  he  found  he  had 
not  much  inclination  to  return  to  it.  He 
accordingly  asked  his  father  whether  it 
would  not  be  a  good  plan  to  plant  what 
he  had  already  dug,  before  he  dug  any 
more. 

"  What  is  Jonas's  advice  ? "  said  his 
father. 

"  Why,  he  told  me  I  had  better  dig  it  ■ 
all  up  first ;  but  I  thought  that,  if  I  planted 
part  first,  those  things  would  be  growing 
while  I  am  digging  up  the  rest  of  the 
ground." 

"But  you  must  do,  you  know,  as  Jonas 
advises;    that  is   the   condition.      Next 


ROLLO'S  GARDEN.        .    ■        109 

year,  perhaps,  you  will  be  old  enough  to 
act  according  to  your  own  judgment ;  but 
this  year  you  must  follow  guidance." 

Rollo  recollected  the  condition,  and  he 
had  nothing  to  say  against  it;  but  he 
looked  dissatisfied. 

"  Don't  you  think  that  is  reasonable5 
Rollo?"  said  his  fatner. 

"  Why ;  I  don't  know,"  said  Rollo. 

"  This  very  case  shows  that  it  is  rea- 
sonable. Here  you  want  to  plant  a  part 
before  you  have  got  the  ground  prepared. 
The  real  reason  is  because  you  are  tired 
of  digging ;  not  because  you  are  really  of 
opinion  that  that  would  be  a  better  plan. 
You  have  not  the  means  of  judging 
whether  it  is,  or  is  not,  now,  time  to  be- 
gin to  put  in  seeds." 

Rollo  could  not  help  seeing  that  that 
was  his  real  motive  ;  and  he  promised  his 
father  that  he  would  go  on,  though  it  was 
tiresome.  It  was  not  the  hard  labor  of 
the  digging  that'fatigued  him,  for,  by  fol- 
lowing Jonas's  directions,  he  found  it  easy 
work ;  but  it  was  the  sameness  of  it.  He 
longed  for  something  new. 

He  persevered,  however,  and  it  was  a 
valuable  lesson  to  him  ;   for  when  he  had 


110       '    •        ROLLOS  GARDEN. 

got  it  all  done,  he  was  so  satisfied  with 
thinking  that  it  was  fairly  completed,  and 
in  thinking  that  now  it  was  all  ready  to- 
gether, and  that  he  could  form  a  plan  for 
the  Whole  at  once,  that  he  determined 
that  forever  after,  when  he  had  any  un- 
pleasant piece  of  work  to  do,  he  would 
go  on  patiently  through  it,  even  if  it  was 
tiresome. 

With  Jonas's  help,  Rollo  planned  his 
garden  beautifully.  He  put  double  rows 
of  peas  and  beans  all  around,  so  that  when 
they  should  grow  up,  they  would  enclose 
his  garden  like  a  fence  or  hedge,  and 
make  it  look  snug  and  pleasant  within. 
Then,  he  had  a  row  of  corn,  for  he  thought 
he  should  like  some  green  corn  himself  to 
roast.  Then,  he  had  one  bed  of  beets 
and  some  hills  of  muskmelons,  and  in 
one  corner  he  planted  some  flower  seeds, 
so  that  he  could  have  some  flowers  to  put 
into  his  mother's  glasses,  for  the  mantel- 
piece. 

Rollo  took  great  interest  in  laying  out 
and  planting  his  ground,  and  in  watching 
the  garden  when  the  seeds  first  came  up ; 
for  all  this  was  easy  and  pleasant  work. 
In  the  intervals,  he  used  to  play  on  his 


HOLLO'S   GARDEN.  Ill 

pleasure-ground,  planting  and  digging, 
and  setting  outjust  as  be  pleased. 

Sometimes  he,  and  James,  and  Lucy, 
would  go  out  in  the  woods  with  his  little 
wheelbarrow,  and  dig  up  roots  of  flowers 
and  little  trees  there,  and  bring  them  in, 
and  set  them  out  here  and  there.  But 
he  did  not  proceed  regularly  with  this 
ground.  He  did  not  dig  it  all  up  first, 
and  then  form  a  regular  plan  for  the 
whole ;  and  the  consequence  was,  that  it 
soon  became  very  irregular.  He  would 
want  to  make  a  path  one  day  where  he 
had  set  out  a  little  tree,  perhaps,  a  few 
days  before ;  and  it  often  happened  that, 
when  he  was  making  a  little  trench  to 
sow  one  kind  of  seeds,  out  came  a  whole 
parcel  of  others  that  he  had  put  in  before, 
and  forgotten. 

Then,  when  the  seeds  came  up  in  his 
playing-garden,  they  came  up  here  and 
there,  irregularly ;  but,  in  his  working- 
garden,  all  looked  orderly  and  beautiful. 

One  evening,  just  before  sundown,  Rollo 
brought  out  his  father  and  mother  to  look 
at  his  two  gardens.  The  difference  be- 
tween them  was  very  great ;  and  Rollo, 
as  he  ran  along  before  his  father,  said  that 


112  ROLLOS   GARDEN. 

he  thought  the  working  plan  of  making  a 
garden  was  a  great  deal  better  than  the 
playing  plan. 

"  That  depends  upon  what  your  ob  • 
ject  is." 

"  How  so  ?  n  said  Rollo. 

"  Why,  which  do  you  think  you  have 
had  the  most  amusement  from,  thus  far  ?  " 

"  Why,  I  have  had  most  amusement,  I 
suppose,  in  the  little  garden  in  the  corner." 

"  Yes,"  said  his  father,  "  undoubtedly. 
But  the  other  appears  altogether  the  best 
now,  and  will  produce  altogether  more  in 
the  end.  So,  if  your  object  is  useful  re- 
sults, you  must  manage  systematically, 
regularly,  and  patiently ;  but  if  you  only 
want  amusement  as  you  go  along,  you  had 
better  do  every  day  just  as  you  happen  to 
feel  inclined." 

"  Well,  father,  which  do  you  think  is 
best  for  a  boy  ?  " 

"  For  quite  small  boys,  a  garden  for 
play  is  best.  They  have  not  patience  or 
industry  enough  for  any  other." 

""Do  you  think  I  have  patience  or  in- 
dustry enough  ?  " 

"  You  have  done  very  well,  so  far  ;  but 
the  trying  time  is  to  come." 


HOLLO'S   GARDEN.        ,  113 

"  Why,  father  ?  " 

"  Because  the  novelty  of  the  beginning 
is  over,  and  now  you  will  have  a  good 
deal  of  hoeing  and  weeding  to  do  for  a 
month  to  come!  I  am  not  sure  but  that 
you  will  forfeit  your  land  yet." 

"But  you  are  to  give  me  three  days' 
notice,  you  know." 

"  That  is  true  :  but  we  shall  see." 


THE  TRYING  TIME. 

The  trying  time  did  come,  true  enough; 
for,  in  June  and  July,  Rollo  found  it  hard 
to  take  proper  care  of  his  garden.  If  he 
had  worked  resolutely  an  hour,  once  or 
twice  a  week,  it  would  have  been  enough ; 
but  he  became  interested  in  other  plays, 
and,  when  Jonas  reminded  him  that  the 
weeds  were  growing,  he  would  go  in  and 
hoe  a  few  minutes,  and  then  go  away  to 
play. 

At  last,  one  day  his  father  gave  him 
notice  that  his  garden  was  getting  out  of 
order,  and,  unless  it  was  entirely  restored 
in  three  days,  it  must  be  forfeited 
e*  8         k* 


114  •         HOLLO'S   GARDEN. 

Rollo  was  not  much  alarmed,  for  he 
thought  he  should  have  ample  time  to  do 
it  before  the  three  days  should  have  ex- 
pired. 

It  was  just  at  night  that  Rollo  received 
his  notice.  He  worked  a  little  the  next 
morning ;  but  his  heart  was  not  in  it  much, 
and  he  left  it  before  he  had  made  much 
progress.  The  weeds  were  well  rooted 
and  strong,  and  he  found  it  much  harder 
to  get  them  up  than  he  expected.  The 
next  day,  he  did  a  little  more,  and,  near 
the  latter  part  of  the  afternoon,  Jonas  saw 
him  running  about  after  butterflies  in  the 
yard,  and  asked  him  if  he  had  got  his 
work  all  done. 

"No,"  said  he;  "but  I  think  I  have 
got  more  than  half  done,  and  I  can  finish 
it  very  early  to-morrow." 

"  To-morrow !  "  said  Jonas.  "  To-mor- 
row is  Sunday,  and  you  cannot  work  then." 

"  Is  it  ?  "  said  Rollo,  with  much  sur- 
prise and  alarm ;  "  I  didn't  know  that. 
What  shall  I  do?  Do  you  suppose  my 
father  will  count  Sunday  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Jonas,  "  I  presume  he  will. 
He  said,  three  days,  without  mentioning 
any  thing  about  Sunday." 


ROLLO'S  GARDEN.  115 

Rollo  ran  for  his  hoe.  He  had  become 
much  attached  to  his  ground,  and  was 
very  unwilling  to  lose  it ;  but  he  knew 
that  his  father  would  rigorously  insist  oil 
his  forfeiting  it,  if  he  failed  to  keep  the 
conditions.  So  he  went  to  work  as  hard 
as  he  could. 

It  was  then  almost  sundown.  He  hoed 
away,  and  pulled  up  the  weeds,  as  indus- 
triously as  possible,  until  the  sun  went 
down.  He  then  kept  on  until  it  was  so 
dark  that  he  could  not  see  any  longer,  and 
then,  finding  that  there  was  considerable 
more  to  be  done,  and  that  he  could  not 
work  any  longer,  he  sat  down  on  the  side 
of  his  little  wheelbarrow,  and  burst  into 
tears. 

He  knew,  however,  that  it  would  do 
no  good  to  cry,  and  so,  after  a  time,  he 
dried  his  eyes,  and  went  in.  He  could 
not  help  hoping  that  his  father  would  not 
count  the  Sunday;  and  "If.  I  can  only 
have  Monday,"  said  he  to  himself,  "  it  will 
all  be  well." 

He  went  in  to  ask  his  father,  but  found 
that  he  had  gone  away,  and  would  not 
come  home  until  quite  late.  He  begged 
his  mother  to  let  him  sit  up  until  he  came 


116  HOLLO'S  GARDEN. 

home,  so  that  he  could  ask  him,  and,  as 
she  saw  that  he  was  so  anxious  and  un- 
happy about  it,  she  consented.  Rollo  sat 
at  the  window  watching,  and,  as  soon  as 
■  he  heard  his  father  drive  up  to  the  door, 
he  went  out,  and,  while  he  was  getting 
out  of  the  chaise,  he  said  to  him,  in  a 
trembling,  faltering  voice, 

"  Father,  do  you  count  Sunday  as  one 
of  my  three  days  ?  " 

"  No,  my  son." 

Rollo  clapped  his  hands,  and  said,  "  O, 
how  glad  !  "  and  ran  back.  He  told  his 
mother  that  he  was  very  much  obliged  to 
her  for  letting  him  sit  up,  and  now  he  was 
ready  to  go  to  bed. 

He  went  to  his  room,  undressed  him- 
self, and,  in  a  few  minutes,  his  father 
came  in  to  get  his  light. 

"  Father,"  said  Rollo,  "  I  am  very  much 
obliged  to  you  for  not  counting  Sunday." 

"  It  is  not  out  of  any  indulgence  to  you, 
Rollo ;  I  have  no  right  to  count  Sunday.'* 

"  No  right,  father  ?  Why,  you  said  three 
days." 

"  Yes ;  but  in  such  agreements  as 
that,  three  working  days  are  always 
meant ;  so  that,  strictly,  according  to  the 


HOLLO'S  QARDEN.  117 

%  ...*.■  » 

agreement,  I  do  not  think  I  have  any 
right  to  count  Sunday.  If  I  had,  I  should 
have  felt  obliged  to  count  it." 

"Why,  father?" 

"  Because  I  want  you,  when  you  grow 
up  to  be  a  man,  to  be  hound  by  your 
agreements.  Men  will  hold  you  to  your 
agreements  when  you  are  a  man,  and  I 
want  you  to  be  accustomed  to  it  while  you 
are  a  boy.  I  should  rather  give  up  twice 
as  much  land  as  your  garden,  than  take 
yours  away  from  you  now ;  but  I  must  do 
it  if  you  do  not  get  it  in  good  order  before 
the  time  is  out." 

61  But,  father,  I  shall,  for  I  shall  have 
time  enough  on  Monday." 

"  True  ;  but  some  accident  may  pre- 
vent it.     Suppose  you  should  be  sick." 

"  If  I  was  sick,  should  you  count  it  ?  " 

"  Certainly.  You  ought  not  to  let  your 
garden  get  out  of  order ;  and,  if  you  do 
it,  you  run  the  risk  of  all  accidents  that 
may  prevent  your  working  during  the 
three  .days." 

Rollo  bade  his  father  good  night,  and  he 
went  to  sleep,  thinking  what  a  narrow 
escape  he  had  had.  He  felt  sure  that  he 
should  save  it  now,   for  he  did  not  think 


118  ROLLO'S  GARDEN. 

9 

there  was  the  least  danger  of  his  being 
sick  on  Monday. 


A  NARROW  ESCAPE. 

Monday  morning  came,  and,  when  he 
awoke,  his  first  movement  was,  to  jump 
out  of  bed,  exclaiming, 

"  Well,  I  am  not  sick  this  morning, 
am  I  ?  » 

He  had  scarcely  spoken  the  words, 
however,  before  his  ear  caught  the  sound 
of  rain,  and,  looking  out  of  the  window, 
he  saw,  to  his  utter  consternation,  that  it 
was  pouring  steadily  down,  and,  from  the 
wind  and  the  gray  uniformity  of  the  clouds, 
there  was  every  appearance  of  a  settled 
storm. 

«  What  shall  I  dp  ?  "  said  Rollo.  "  What 
shall  I  do  ?  Why  did  I  not  finish  it  on 
Saturday  ?  " 

He  dressed  himself,  went  down  stairs, 
and  looked  out  at  the  clouds.  There  was 
no  prospect  of  any  thing  but  rain.  He 
ate  his  breakfast;  and  then  went  out,  and 
looked  again.    Rain,  still.    He  studied  and 


ROLLO'S  GARDEN.  119 

recited  his  morning  lessons,  and  then  again 
looked  out.  Rain,  rain.  He  could  not 
help  hoping  it  would  clear  up  before  night ; 
but,  as  it  continued  so  steadily,  he  began 
to  be  seriously  afraid  that,  after  all,  he 
should  lose  his  garden. 

He  spent  the  day  very  anxiously  and 
unhappily.  He  knew,  from  what  his  fa- 
ther had  said,  that  he  could  not  hope  to 
have  another  day  allowed,  and  that  all 
would  depend  on  his  being  able  to  do  the 
work  before  night. 

At  last,  about  the  middle  of  the  after- 
noon, Rollo  came  into  the  room  where  his 
father  and  mother  were  sitting,  and  told 
his  father  that  it  did  not  rain  a  great  deal 
then,  and  asked  him  if  he  might  not  go 
out  and  finish  his  weeding ;  he  did  not 
care,  he  said,  if  he  did  get  wet. 

"  But  your  getting  wet  will  not  injure 
you  alone — it  will  spoil  your  clothes." 

"  Besides,  you  will  take  cold,"  said  hrs 
mother. 

"  Perhaps  he  would  not  take  cold,  if  he 
were  to  put  on  dry  clothes  as  soon  as  he 
leaves  working,"  said  his  father;  "but 
wetting  his  clothes  would  put  you  to  a 


120         •  ROLLO'S  GARDEN. 

good  deal  of  trouble.  No ;  I'd  rather  you 
would  not  go,  on  the  whole,  Rollo." 

Rollo  turned  away  with  tears  in  his 
eyes,  and  went  out  into  the  kitchen.  He 
sat  down  on  a  bench  in  the  shed  where 
Jonas  was  working,  and  looked  out  tow- 
ards the  garden.  Jonas  pitied  him,  and 
would  gladly  have  gone  and  done  the  work 
for  him;  but  he  knew  that  his  father 
would  not  allow  that.  At  last,  a  sudden 
thought  struck  him. 

"  Rollo,"  said  he,  "  you  might  perhaps 
find  some  old  clothes  in  the  garret,  which 
it  would  not  hurt  to  get  wet." 

Rollo  jumped  up,  and  said,  "  Let  us  go 
and  see." 

They  went  up  garret,  and  found,  hang- 
ing up,  quite  a  quantity  of  old  clothes. 
Some  belonged  to  Jonas,  some  to  himself, 
and  they  selected  the  worst  ones  they 
could  find,  and  carried  them  down  into 
the  shed. 

Then  Rollo  went  and  called  his  mother 
to  come  out,  and  he  asked  her  if  she 
thought  it  would  hurt  those  old  clothes  to 
get  wet.  She  laughed,  and  said  no ;  and 
said  she  would  go  and  ask  his  father  to  let 
him  go  out  with  them* 


ROLLO'S  GARDEN. 


121 


In  a  few  minutes,  she  came  back,  and 
said  that  his  father  consented,  but  that 
he  must  go  himself,  and  put  on  the  old 
clothes,  without  troubling  his  mother, 
and  then,  when  he  came  back,  he  must 
rub  himself  dry  with  a  towel,  and  put 
on  his  common  dress,  and  put  the  wet 
ones  somewhere  in  the  shed  to  dry ;  and 
when  they  were  dry,  put  them  all  back 
carefully  in  their  places. 


122  ROLLO'S  GARDEN. 

Rollo  ran  up  to  his  room,  and  rigged 
himself  out,  as  well  as  he  could,  putting 
one  of  Jonas's  great  coats  over  him,  and 
wearing  an  old  broad-brimmed  straw  hat 
on  his  head.  Thus  equipped,  he  took  his 
hoe,  and  sallied  forth  in  the  rain. 

At  first  he  thought  it  was  good  fun ;  but, 
in  about  half  an  hour,  he  began  to  be  tired, 
and  to  feel  very  uncomfortable.  The  rain 
spattered  in  his  face,  and  leaked  down  the 
back  of  his  neck ;  and  then  the  ground 
was  wet  and  slippery ;  and  once  or  twice 
he  almost  gave  up  in  despair. 

He  persevered,  however,  and  before 
dark  he  got  it  done.  He  raked  off  all 
the  weeds,  and  smoothed  the  ground  over 
carefully,  for  he  knew  his  father  would 
come  out  to  examine  it  as  soon  as  the 
storm  was  over.  Then  he  went  in,  rubbed 
himself  dry,  changed  his  clothes,  and  went 
and  took  his  seat  by  the  kitchen  fire. 

His  father  came  out  a  few  minutes 
after,  and  said,  "  Well,  Rollo,  have  you 
got  through  ? " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Well,  I  am  very  glad  of  it.  I  was 
afraid  you  would  have  lost  your  garden. 
As  it  is,  perhaps  it  will  do  you  good." 


ROLLO'S  GARDEN.  123 

«  How  ?  "  said  Rollo.    «  What  good  ?  " 

"  It  will  teach  you,  1  hope,  that  it  is 
dangerous  to  neglect  or  postpone  doing 
one's  duty.  We  cannot  always  depend 
on  repairing  the  mischief.  When  the 
proper  opportunity  is  once  lost,  it  may 
never  return." 

Rollo  said  nothing,  but  he  thought  he 
should  remember  the  lesson  as  long  as  he 
lived. 

He  remembered  it  for  the  rest  of  that 
summer,  at  any  rate,  and  did  not  run  any 
more  risks.  He  kept  his  ground  very  neat, 
and  his  father  did  not  have  to  give  him 
notice  again.  His  corn  grew  finely,  and 
he  had  many  a  good  roasting  ear  from  it ; 
and  his  flowers  helped  ornament  the  par- 
lor mantel-piece  all  the  summer;  and  the 
green  peas,  and  the  beans,  and  the  musk- 
melons,  and  the  other  vegetables,  which 
his  father  took  and  paid  for,  amounted  to 
more  than  two  dollars.    -^ 


124  ROLLO'S  GARDEN. 


ADVICE. 


"Well,  Rollo,"  said  his  father,  one 
evening,  as  he  was  sitting  on  his  cricket 
before  a  bright,  glowing  fire,  late  in  the 
autumn,  after  all  his  fruits  were  gathered 
in,  "  jou  have  really  done  some  work  this 
summer,  haven't  you  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo ;  and  he  began 
to  reckon  up  the  amount  of  peas,  and 
beans,  and  corn,  and  other  things,  that  he 
had  raised. 

"  Yes,"  said  his  father,  "  you  have  had 
a  pretty  good  garden ;  but  the  best  of  it  is 
your  own  improvement.  You  are  really 
beginning  to  get  over  some  of  the  faults 
of  boy  loork." 

"What  are  the  faults  of  boy  work?" 
said  Rollo. 

"  One  of  the  first  is,  confounding  work 
with  play, — or  rather  expecting  the  pleas- 
ure of  play,  while  they  are  doing  work. 
There  is  great  pleasure  in  doing  work,  as 
I  have  told  you  before,  when  it  is  well 
and  properly  done,  but  it  is  very  different 
from  the  pleasure  of  play.    It  comes  later ; 


HOLLOS  GARDEN.  125 

generally  after  the  work  is  done.  While 
yoirare  doing  your  work,  it  requires  exer- 
tion and  self-denial,  and  sometimes  the 
sameness  is  tiresome.. 

"It  is  so  with  men  when  they  work, 
but  they  expect  it  will  be  so,  and  perse- 
vere notwithstanding ;  but  boys,  who  have 
not  learned  this,  expect  their  work  will 
be  play ;  and,  when  they  find  it  is  not  so, 
they  get  tired,  and  want  to  leave  it  or  to 
find  some  new  way. 

"You  showed  your  wish  to  make  play 
of  your  work,  that  day  when  you  were 
getting  in  your  chips,  by  insisting  on  hav- 
ing just  such  a  basket  as  you  happened  to 
fancy;  and  then,  when  you  got  a  little 
tired  of  that,  going  for  the  wheelbarrow ; 
and  then  leaving  the  chips  altogether,  and 
going  to  piling  the  wood." 

"Well,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "do  not 
men  try  to  make  their  work  as  pleasant 
as  they  can  ?  " 

"Yes,  but  they  do  not  continually 
change  from  one  thing  to  another  in 
hopes  to  make  it  amusing.  They  always 
expect  that  it  will  be  laborious  and  tire- 
some, and  they  understand  this  before- 


126  ROLLO'S  GARDEN. 

hand,  and  go  steadily  forward  notwith- 
standing. You  are  beginning  to  learn  to 
do  this. 

"  Another  fault,  which  you  boys  are 
very  apt  to  fall  into,  is  impatience.  This 
comes  from  the  first  fault ;  for  you  expect, 
when  you  go  to  work,  the  kind  of  pleas- 
ure you  have  in  play,  and  when  you  find 
you  do  not  obtain  it,  or  meet  with  any 
difficulties,  you  grow  impatient,  and  get 
tired  of  what  you  are  doing. 

"  From  this  follows  the  third  fault — 
changeableness,  or  want  of  perseverance. 
Instead  of  steadily  going  forward  in  the 
way  they  commence,  boys  are  very  apt  to 
abandon  one  thing  after  another,  and  to 
try  this  new  way,  and  that  new  way,  so 
as  to  accomplish  very  little  in  any  thing." 

"  Do  you  think  I  have  overcome  all 
these  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  In  part,"  said  his  father;  "you  begin 
to  understand  something  about  them,  and 
to  be  on  your  guard  against  them.  But 
you  have  only  made  a  beginning." 

"  Only  a  beginning  ?  "  said  Rollo ;  "  why, 
I  thought  I  had  learned  to  work  pretty 
well." 


ROLLO'S   GARDEN.  127 

"So  you  have,  for  a  little  boy ;  but  it  is 
only  a  beginning,  after  all.  I  don't  think 
you  would  succeed  in  persevering  steadily, 
so  as  to  accomplish  any  serious  undertak- 
ing now." 

"Why,  father,  /think  I  should." 

"  Suppose  I  should  give  you  the  Latin 
grammar  to  learn  in  three  months,  and 
tell  you  that,  at  the  end  of  that  time,  I 
would  hear  you  recite  it  all  at  once.  Do 
you  suppose  you  should  be  ready?" 

" Why,  father,  that  is  not  work" 

"Yes,"  said  his  father,  "that  is  one 
kind  of  wrork, — and  just  such  a  kind  of 
work,  so  far  as  patience,  steadiness,  and 
perseverance,  are  needed,  as  you  will  have 
most  to  do,  in  future  years.  But  if  I 
were  to  give  it  to  you  to  do,  and  then  say 
nothing  to  you  about  it  till  you  had  time 
to  have  learned  the  whole,  I  have  some 
doubts  whether  you  would  recite  a  tenth 
part  of  it." 

Rollo  was  silent ;  he  knew  it  would 
be  just  so. 

"No,  my  little  son,"  said  his  father, 
putting  him  down  and  patting  his  head, 
"you,  have    got  a  great   deal   to   learn 


128  ROLLOS  GARDEN. 

before  you  become  a  man  ;  but  then  you 
have  got  some  years  to  learn  it  in  ;  that  is 
a  comfort.  But  now  it  is  time  for  you  to 
go  to  bed.;  so  good  night." 


THE  APPLE  GATHERING. 


GEORGE'S  LAMB. 


Page  138. 


THE 


APPLE-GATHERING 


THE  GARDEN-HOUSE. 


There  was  a  certain  building  on  one 
side  of  Farmer  CropwelPs  yard  which 
they  called  the  garden-house.  There  was 
one  large  double  door  which  opened  from 
it  into  the  garden,  and  another  smaller 
one  which  led  to  the  yard  towards  the 
house.  On  one  side  of  this  room  were  a 
great  many  different  kinds  of  garden - 
tools,  such  as  hoes,  rakes,  shovels,  and 
spades;  there  were  one  or  two  wheel- 
barrows, and  little  wagons.  Over  these 
were  two  or  three  broad  shelves,  with 
baskets,  and  bundles  of  matting,  and 
ropes,  and  chains,  and  various  iron  tools. 
Around  the  wall,  in  different  places,  vari- 
ous things  were  hung  up — here  a  row  of 
augers,  there  a  trap,  and  in  other  places 
parts  of  harness. 


132  THE  APPLE-GATHERING. 

Opposite  to  these,  there  was  a  large 
bench,  which  extended  along  the  whole 
side.  At  one  end  of  this  bench  there 
were  a  great  many  carpenter's  tools ;  and 
the  other  was  covered  with  papers  of 
seeds,  and  little  bundles  of  dried  plants, 
which  Farmer  Cropwell  had  just  been 
getting  in  from  the  garden. 

The  farmer  and  one  of  his  boys  was  at 
work  here,  arranging  his  seeds,  and  doing 
up  his  bundles,  one  pleasant  morning  in 
the  fall,  when  a  boy  about  twelve  years 
old  came  running  to  the  door  of  the  gar- 
den-house, from  the  yard,  playing  with  a 
large  dog.  The  dog  ran  behind  him, 
jumping  up  upon  him;  and  when  they 
got  to  the  door,  the  boy  ran  in  quick, 
laughing,  and  shut  the  door  suddenly,  so 
that  the  dog  could  not  come  in  after  him. 
This  boy's  name  was  George :  the  dog's 
name  was  Nappy — that  is,  they  always 
called  him  Nappy.  His  true  name  was 
Napoleon ;  though  James  always  thought 
that  he  got  his  name  from  the  long  naps 
he  used  to  take  in  a  certain  sunny  corner 
of  the  yard. 

But,  as  I  said  before,  George  got  into 
the  garden-house,  and  shut   Nappy  out. 


THE  APPLE-GATHERING,  133 

He  stood  there  holding  the  door,  and 
said, 

"  Father,  all  the  horses  have  been  wa- 
tered but  Jolly :  may  I  ride  him  to  the 
brook  ? "  . 

"  Yes,"  said  his  father. 

So  George  turned  round,  and  opened 
the  door  a  little  way,  and  peeped  out. 

"  Ah,  old  Nappy !  you  are  there  still, 
are  you,  wagging  your  tail  ?  Don't  you 
wish  you  could  catch  him  ?  " 

George  then  shut  the  door,  and  walked 
softly  across  to  the  great  door  leading  out 
into  the  garden.  From  here  he  stole 
softly  around  into  the  barn,  by  a  back 
way,  and  then  came  forward,  and  peeped 
out  in  front,  and  saw  that  Nappy  was  still 
there,  sitting  up,  and  looking  at  the  door 
very  closely.  He  was  waiting  for  George 
to  come  out.  »  . ' 


JOLLY. 


George  then  went  back  to  the  stall 
where  Jolly  was  feeding.  He  went  in, 
and  untied  his  halter,  and  led  him   out. 


134  THE  APPLE-GATHERING. 

Jolly  was  a  sleek,  black,  beautiful  little 
horse,  not  old  enough  to  do  much  work, 
but  a  very  good  horse  to  ride.  George 
took  down  a  bridle,  and,  after  leading  Jolly 
to  a  horse-block,  where  he  could  stand  up 
high  enough  to  reach  his  head,  he  put  the 
bridle  on,  and  then  jumped  up  upon  his 
back,  and  walked  him  out  of  the  barn  by 
a  door  where  Nappy  could  not  see  them. 

He  then  rode  round  by  the  other  side 
of  the  house,  until  he  came  to  the  road, 
and  he  went  along  the  road  until  he  could 
see  up  the  yard  to  the  place  where  Nappy 
was  watching.  He  called  out,  Nappy !  in 
a  loud  voice,  and  then  immediately  set  his 
horse  off  upon  a  run.  Nappy  looked  down 
to  the  road,  and  was  astonished  to  see 
George  upon  the  horse,  when  he  supposed 
he  was  still  behind  the  door  where  he  was 
watching,  and  he  sprang  forward,  and  set 
off  after  him  in  full  pursuit. 

He  caught  George  just  as  he  was  rid- 
ing down  into  the  brook.  George  was 
looking  round  and  laughing  at  him  as  he 
came  up ;  but  Nappy  looked  quite  grave, 
and  did  nothing  but  go  down  into  the 
brook,  and  lap  up  water  with  his  tongue, 
while  the  horse  drank. 


THE  APPLE-GATHERING.  135 

While  the  horse  was  drinking,  Rollo 
came  along  the  road,  and  George  asked 
him  how  his  garden  came  on. 

"  O,  very  well,"  said  Rollo.  "  Father 
is  going  to  give  me  a  larger  one  next 
year." 

"Have  you  got  a  strawberry-bed?" 
said  George. 

"  No,"  said  Rollo. 

"  I  should  think  you  would  have  a 
strawberry-bedi  My  father  will  give  you 
some  plants,  and  you  can  set  them  out 
this  fall." 

"  I  don't  know  how  to  set  them  out," 
said  Rollo.  "  Could  you  come  and  show 
me  ?  " 

George  said  he  would  ask  his  father ; 
and  then,  as  his  horse  had  done  drinking, 
he  turned  round,  and  rode  home  again. 

Mr.  Cropwell  said  that  he  would  give 
Rollo  a  plenty  of  strawberry-plants,  and, 
as  to  George's  helping  him  set  them  out,  he 
said  that  they  might  exchange  works.  If 
Rollo  would  come  and  help  George  gather 
his  meadow-russets,  George  might  go  and 
help  him  make  his  strawberry-bed.  That 
evening,  George  went  and  told  Rollo  of 
this  plan,  and  Rollo's  father   approved  of 


136  THE  APPLE-GATHERING. 

it.  So  it  was  agreed  that,  the  next  day, 
he  should  go  to  help  them  gather  the 
russets.     They  invited  James  to  go  too. 


THE  PET  LAMB. 


The  next  morning,  James  and  Rollo 
went  together  to  the  farmer's.  They  found 
George  at  the  gate  waiting  for  them,  with 
his  dog  Nappy.  As  the  boys  were  walk- 
ing along  into  the  yard,  George  said  that 
his  dog  Nappy  was  the  best  friend  he  had 
in  the  world,  except  his  lamb_. 

"  Your  lamb !  "-  said  James  ;  "  have  you 
got  a  lamb?" 

"Yes,  a  most  beautiful  little  lamb. 
When  he  was  very  little  indeed,  he  was 
weak  and  sick,  and  father  thought  he 
would  not  live ;  and  he  told  me  I  might 
have  him  if  I  wanted  him.  I  made  a  bed 
for  him  in  the  corner  of  the  kitchen." 

"  O,  I  wish  I  had  one,"  said  James. 
"  Where  is  he  now  ?  " 

"  O,  he  is  grown  up  large,  and  he  plays 
around  in  the  field  behind  the  house.  If 
I  go  out  there  witlr  a  little  pah  of  milk, 


THE  APPLE-GATHERING.     .         137 

and  call  him  so, — Co-nan,  Co-nan,  Co- 
nan, — he  comes  running  up  to  me  to  get 
the  milfc." 

"  I  wish  I  could  see  him,"  said  James. 

"  Well,  jou  can,"  said  George.  "  My 
sister  Ann  will  go  and  show  him  to  you." 

So  George  called  his  sister  Ann,  and 
asked  her  if  she  should  be  willing  to  go 
and  show  James  and  Rollo  his  lamb,  while 
he  went  and  got  the  little  wagon  ready 
to  go  for  the  apples.     >• 

Ann  said  she  would,  and  she  went  into 
the  house,  and  got  a  pan  with  a  little  milk 
in  the  bottom  of  it,  and  walked  along 
carefully,  James  and  Rollo  following  her. 
When  they  had  got  round  to  the  other 
side  of  the  house,  they  found  there  a  little 
gate,  leading  out  .into  a  field  where  there 
were  green  grass  and  little  clumps  of 
trees. 

Ann  went  carefully  through.  James 
and  Rollo  stopped  to  look.  She  walked 
on  a  little  way,  and  looked  around  every 
where,  but  she  saw  no  lamb.  Presently 
she  began  to  call  out,  as  George  had  said, 
"  Co-nan,  Co-nan,  Co-nan" 

In  a  minute  or  two,  the  lamb  began  to 
run  towards  her  out  of  a  little  thicket  of 

f  *  m  * 


138  THE  APPLE-GATHERING. 

bushes ;  and  it  drank  the  milk  out  of  the 
pan.  James  and  Rollo  were  very  much 
pleased,  but  they  did  not  go  towards  the 
lamb.  Ann  let  it  drink  all  it  wanted,  and 
then  it  walked  away.* 

Then  James  ran  back  to  the  yard. 
He  found  that  George  and  Rollo  had  gone 
into  the  garden-house.  He  went  in  there 
after  them,  and  found  that  they  were  get- 
ting a  little  wagon  ready  to  draw  out  into 
the  field.  There  were  three  barrels  stand- 
ing by  the  door  of  the  garden-house,  and 
George  told  them  that  they  were  to  put 
their  apples  into  them. 


THE  MEADOW-liUSSET. 


There  was  a  beautiful  meadow  down  a 
little  way  from  Farmer  Cropwell's  house, 
and  at  the  farther  side  of  it,  across  a  brook, 
there  stood  a  very  large  old  apple-tree, 
which  bore  a  kind  of  apples  called  russets, 
and  they  called  the  tree  the  meadow-russet. 
These  were  the  apples  that  the  boys  were 

*  See  picture  at  the  beginning  of  this  story. 


THE  APPLE-GATHERING.  139 

going  to  gather.  They  soon  got  ready, 
and  began  to  walk  along  the  path  towards 
the  meadow.  Two  of  them  drew  the 
wagon,  and  the  others  carried  long  poles 
to  knock  off  the  apples  with. 

As  the  party  were  descending  the  hill 
towards  the  meadow,  they  saw  before 
them,  coming  around  a  turn  in  the  path, 
a  cart  and  oxen,  with  a  large  boy  driving. 
They  immediately  began  to  call  out  to 
one  another  to  turn  out,  some  pulling  one 
way  and  some  the  other,  With  much  noise 
and  vociferation.  At  last  they  got  fairly 
out  upon  the  grass,  and  the  cart  went  by. 
The  boy  who  was  driving  it  said,  as  he 
went  by,  smiling, 

"Who  is  the  head  of  that  gang?" 

James  and  Rollo  looked  at  him,  won- 
dering what  he  meant.     George  laughed. 

"  What  does  he  mean  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  He  means,"  said  George,  laughing, 
"  that  we  make  so  much  noise  and  con- 
fusion, that  we  cannot  have  any  head." 

"  Any  head  ?  "  said  James. 

"Yes, — any  master  workman." 

"  Why,"  said  Rollo,  "  do  we  need  a  mas- 
ter workman?" 


140 


THE   APPLE-GATHERING. 


"No,"  said  George,  "I  don't  believe 
we  do." 

So  the  boys  went  along  until  they 
came  to  the  brook.  They  crossed  the 
brook  on  a  bridge  of  planks,  and  were 
very  soon  under  the  spreading  branches 
of  the  great  apple-tree. 


THE  APPLE-GATHERING.  141 


INSUBORDINATION. 

The  boys  immediately  began  the  work 
of  getting  down  the  apples.  But,  un- 
luckily, there  were  but  two  poles,  and  they 
all  wanted  them.  George  had  one,  and 
James  the  other,  and  Rollo  came  up  to 
James,  and  took  hold  of  his  pole,  saying, 

"  Here,  James,  I  will  knock  them  down ; 
you  may  pick  them  up  and  put  them  in 
the  wagon." 

"  No,"  said  James,  holding  fast  to  his 
pole  ;  "  no,  I'd  rather  knock  them  down." 

"  No,"  said  Rollo,  "  I  can  knock  them 
down  better." 

"  But  I  got  the  pole  first,  and  I  ought 
to  have  it." 

Rollo,  finding  that  James  was  not  will- 
ing to  give  up  his  pole,  left  him,  and  went 
to  George,  and  asked  George  to  let  him 
have  the  pole  ;  but  George  said  he  was 
taller,  and  could  use  it  better  than  Rollo. 

Rollo  was  a  little  out  of  humor  at  this, 
and  stood  aside  and  looked  on.  James 
soon  got  tired  of  his  pole,  and  laid  it 
down;  and  then  Rollo  seized  it,  and  be- 
gan knocking  the  apples  off  of  the  tree. 


142  THE  APPLE-GATHERING. 

But  it  fatigued  him  very  much  to  reach 
up  so  high  ;  and,  in  fact,  they  all  three  got 
tired  of  the  poles  very  soon,  and  began 
picking  up  the  apples. 

But  they  did  not  go  on  any  more  har- 
moniously with  this  than  with  the  other. 
After  Rollo  and  James  had  thrown  in 
several  apples,  George  came  and  turned 
them  all  out. 

"  You  must  not  put  them  in  so,"  said 
he ;  "  all  the  good  and  bad  ones  to- 
gether." 

"  How  must  we  put  them  in  ?  "  asked 
Rollo. 

"  Why,  first  we  must  get  a  load  of  good, 
large,  whole,  round  apples,  and  then  a 
load  of  small  and  wormy  ones.  We  only 
put  the  good  ones  into  the  barrels." 

"  And  what  do  you  do  with  the  little 
ones  ?  "  said  James. 

"  O,  we  give  them  to  the  pigs." 

"  Well,"  said  Rollo,  "  we  can  pick 
them  all  up  together  now,  and  separate 
them  when  we  get  home." 

As  he  said  this,  he  threw  in  a  handful 
of  small  apples  among  the  good  ones 
which  George  had  been  putting  in. 

"Be  still,"  said  George;  "you  must 


THE  APPLE-GATHERING.  143 

not  do  so.  I  tell  you  we  must  not  mix 
them  at  all."  And  he  poured  the  apples 
out  upon  the  ground  again. 

"  O,  I'll  tell  you  what  we  will  do,' 
said  James  ;  "  we  will  get  a  load  of  little 
ones  first,  and  then  the  big  ones.     I  want 
to  see  the  pigs  eat  them  up." 

But  George  thought  it  was  best  to  take 
the  big  ones  first,  and  so  they  had  quite  a 
discussion  about  it,  and  a  grefat  deal  of 
time  was  lost  before  they  could  agree. 

Thus  they  went  on  for  some  time,  dis- 
cussing every  thing,  and  each  wanting  to 
do  the  work  in  his  own  way.  They  did 
not  dispute  much,  it  is  true,  for  neither  of 
them  wished  to  make  difficulty.  But 
each  thought  he  might  direct  as  well  as 
the  others,  and  so  they  had  much  talk  and 
clamor,  and  but  very  little  work.  When 
one  wanted  the  wagon  to  be  on  one  side 
of  the  tree,  the  others  wanted  it  the  other ; 
and  when  George  thought  it  was  time  to 
draw  the  load  along  towards  home,  Rollo 
and  James  thought  it  was  not  nearly  full 
enough.  So  they  were  all  pulling  in  dif- 
ferent directions,  and  made  very  slow 
progress  in  their  work.  It  took  them  a 
long  time  to  get  their  wagon  full. 


144  THE  APPLE-GATHERING. 

When  they  got  the  load  ready,  and 
were  fairly  set  off  on  the  road,  they  went 
on  smoothly  and  pleasantly  for  a  time, 
until  they  got  up  near  the  door  of  the 
garden-house,  when  Rollo  was  going  to 
turn  the  wagon  round  so  as  to  back  it  up 
to  the  door,  and  George  began  to  pull  in 
the  other  direction. 

"Not  so,  Rollo,"  said  George;  "go 
right  up  straight."      ■  *  *  x* 

"  No,"  said  Rollo,  "  it  is  better  to  back 
it  up." 

James  had  something  to  say,  too ;  and 
they  all  pulled,  and  talked  loud  and  all 
together,  so  that  there  was  nothing  but 
noise  and  clamor.  In  the  mean  time,  the 
wagon,  being  pulled  every  way,  of  course 
did  not  move  at  all. 


SUBORDINATION. 


Presently  Farmer  Cropwell  made  his 
appearance  at  the  door  of  the  garden- 
house. 

"Well,  boys,"  said  he,  "you  seem  to 
be  pretty  good-natured,  and  I  am  glad  of 


THE  APPLE-GATHERING.  145 

that;  but  you  are  certainly  the  noisiest 
workmen,  of  your  size,  that  I  ever 
heard."  i     ' 

"  Why,  father,"  said  George,  "  I  want 
to  go  right  up  to  the  door,  straight,  and 
Rollo  won't  let  me." 

"  Must  not  we  back  it  up  ? "  said 
Rollo. 

"  Is  that  the  way  you  have  been  work- 
ing all  the  morning  ?  "  said  the  farmer. 

"  How  ?  "  said  George. 

"  Why,  all  generals  and  no  soldiers." 

"  Sir  ?  "  said  George. 

"  All  of  you  commanding,  and  none 
obeying.  There  is  nothing  but  confusion 
and  noise.  I  don't  see  how  you  can 
gather  apples  so.  How  many  have  you 
got  in  ?  " 

So  saying,  he  went  and  looked  into  the 
barrels. 

"None,"  said  he ;  "I  thought  so." 

He  stood  still  a  minute,  as  if  thinking 
what  to  do;  and  then  he  told  them  to 
leave  the  wagon  there,  and  go  with  him, 
and  he  would  show  them  the  way  to 
work. 

The  boys  accordingly  walked  along 
after  him,  through  the  garden-house,  into 
■     g  10         N 


146  THE  APPLE-GATHERING. 

the  yard.  They  then  went  across  the 
road,  and  down  behind  a  barn,  to  a  place 
where  some  men  were  building  a  stone 
bridge.  They  stopped  upon  a  bank  at 
some  distance,  and  looked  down  upon 
them. 

u  There,"  said  he,  "  see  how  men 
work  !  " 

It  happened,  at  that  time,  that  all  the 
men  were  engaged  in  moving  a  great 
stone  with  iron  bars.  There  was  scarce- 
ly any  thing  said  by  any  of  them.  Every 
thing  went  on  silently,  but  the  stone 
moved  regularly  into  its  place. 

"  Now,  boys,  do  you  understand,"  said 
the  farmer,  "how  they  get  along  so  qui- 
etly?" 

"  Why,  it  is  because  they  are  men,  and 
not  boys,"  said  Rollo. 

"  No,"  said  the  farmer,  "  that  is  not 
the  reason.  It  is  because  they  have  a 
head." 

"  A  head  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"Yes,"  said  he,  "a  head;  that  is,  one 
man  to  direct,  and  the  rest  obey." 

"  Which  is  it  ?  "  said  George. 

"  It  is  that  man  who  is  pointing  now," 
said  the  farmer,  "  to  another  stone.     He 


THE  APPLE-GATHERING.  147 

is  telling  them  which  to  take  next. 
Watch  them  now,  and  you  will  see  that 
he  directs  every  thing,  and  the  rest  do 
just  as  he  says.  But  you  are  all  directing 
and  commanding  together,  and  there  is 
nobody  to  obey.  If  you  were  moving 
those  stones,  you  would  be  all  advising 
and  disputing  together,  and  pulling  in 
every  direction  at  once,  and  the  stone 
would  not  move  at  all." 

"  And  do  men  always  appoint  a  head," 
said  Rollo,  "  when  they  work  together  ?  " 

"No,"  said  the  farmer,  "they  do  not 
always  appoint  one  regularly,  but  they 
always  have  one,  in  some  way  or  other. 
Even  when  no  one  is  particularly  author- 
ized to  direct,  they  generally  let  the  one 
who-  is  oldest,  or  who  knows  most  about 
the  business,  take  the  lead,  and  the  rest 
do  as  he  says." 

They  all  then  walked  slowly  back  to 
the  garden-house,  and  the  farmer  advised 
them  to  have  a  head,  if  they  wanted 
their  business  to  go  on  smoothly  and 
well. 

"  Who  do  you  think  ought  to  be  our 
head  ?  " 

"  The  one  who  is  the  oldest,  and  knows 


148  THE  APPLE-GATHERING.* 

most  about  the  business,"  said  the  farmer ; 
"  and  that,  I  suppose,  would  be  George. 
But  perhaps  you  had  better  take  turns, 
and  let  each  one  be  head  for  one  load,  and 
then  you  will  all  learn  both  to  command 
and  to  obey." 

So  the  boys  agreed  that  George  should 
command  while  they  got  the  next  load, 
and  James  and  Rollo  agreed  to  obey. 
The  farmer  told  them  they  must  obey  ex- 
actly, and  good-naturedly. 

"  You  must  not  even  advise  him  what  to 
do,  or  say  any  thing  about  it  at  all,  except 
in  some  extraordinary  case ;  but,  when 
you  talk,  talk  about  other  things  altogeth- 
er, and  work  on  exactly  as  he  shall  say." 

"  What  if  we  know  there  is  a  better 
way  ?  must  not  we  tell  him  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  No,"  said  the  farmer,  "  unless  it  is 
something  vexy  uncommon.  It  is  better 
to  go  wrong  sometimes,  under  a  head, 
than  to  be  endlessly  talking  and  disputing 
how  you  shall  go.  Therefore  you  must 
do  exactly  what  he  says,  even  if  you  know 
a  better  way,  and  see  if  you  do  not  get 
along  much  faster  " 


THE  APPLE-GATHERING.  149 


THE  NEW  PLAN  TRIED. 

The  boys  determined  to  try  the  plan, 
and,  after  putting  their  first  load  of  apples 
into  the  barrel,  they  set  off  again  under 
George's  command.  He  told  Rollo  and 
James  to  draw  the  wagon,  while  he  ran 
along  behind.  When  they  got  to  the  tree, 
Rollo  took  up  a  pole,  and  began  to  beat 
down  some  more  apples  ;  but  George  told 
him  that  they  must  first  pickup  what  were 
knocked  down  before ;  and  he  drew  the 
wagon  round  to  the  place  where  he  thought 
it  was  best  for  it  to  stand.  The  other 
boys  made  no  objection,  but  worked  in- 
dustriously, picking  up  all  the  small  and 
worm-eaten  apples  they  could  find;  and, 
in  a  very  short  time,  they  had  the  wagon 
loaded,  and  were  on  their  way  to  the 
house  again. 

Still,  Rollo  and  James  had  to  make  so 
great  an  effort  to  avoid  interfering  with 
George's  directions,  that  they  did  not 
really  enjoy  this  trip  quite  so  well  as  they 
did  the  first.  It  was  pleasant  to  them  to 
be  more  at  liberty,  and  they  thought,  on 
the  whole,  that  they  did  not  like  having  a 
head  quite  so  well  as  being  without  one, 

*  4. 


150  THE  APPLE-GATHERING. 

Instead  of  going  up  to  the  garden- 
house,  George  ordered  them  to  take  thia 
load  to^  the  barn,  to  put  it  in  a  bin  where 
all  such  apples  were  to  go.  When  they 
came  back,  the  farmer  came  again  to  the 
door  of  the  garden-house. 

"  Well,  boys,"  said  he,  "  you  have  come 
rather  quicker  this  time.  How  do  you 
like  that  way  of  working  ?  n 

"  Why,  not  quite  so  well,"  said  Rollo. 
"  I  do  not  think  it  is  so  pleasant  as  the 
other  way." 

"  It  is  not  such  good  play,  perhaps ;  but 
don't  you  think  it  makes  better  work  ?  " 
said  he. 

The  boys  admitted  that  they  got  their 
apples  in  faster,  and,  as  they  were  at  work 
then,  and  not  at  play,  tHey  resolved  to 
continue  the  plan. 

Farmer  Cropwell  then  asked  who  was 
to  take  command  the  next  time. 

"  Rollo,"  said  the  boys. 

"  Well,  Rollo,"  said  he,  "  I  want  you 
to  have  a  large  number  of  apples  knocked 
down  this  time,  and  then  select  from  them 
the  largest  and  nicest  you  can.  I  want 
one  load  for  a  particular  purpose." 


THE  APPLE-GATHERING.  151 


A  PRESENT. 

The  boys  worked  on  industriously,  and, 
before  dinner-time,  they  had  gathered  all 
the  apples.  The  load  of  best  apples, 
which  the  farmer  had  requested  them  to 
bring  for  a  particular  purpose,  were  put 
into  a  small  square  box,  until  it  was  full, 
and  then  a  cover  was  nailed  on  ;  the  rest 
were  laid  upon  the  great  bench.  When, 
at  length,  the  work  was  all  done,  and  they 
were  ready  to  go  home,  the  farmer  put 
this  box  into  the  wagon,  so  that  it  stood 
up  in.  the  middle,  leaving  a  considerable 
space  before  and  behind  it.  He  put  the 
loose  apples  into  this  space,  some  before 
and  some  behind,  until  the  wagon  was  full. 

"  Now,  James  and  Rollo,  I  want  you 
to  draw  these  apples  for  me,  when  you 
go  home,"  said  the  farmer. 

"  Who  are  they  for  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  I  will  mark  them,"  said  he. 

So  he  took  down  a  little  curious-looking 
tin  dipper,  with  a  top  sloping  in  all  around, 
and  with  a  hole  in  the  middle  of  it.  A 
long,  slender  brush-handle  was  standing 
up  in  this  hole. 


152  THE  APPLE-GATHERING. 

•  •' 

When  he  took  out  the  brush,  the  boys 
saw  that  it  was  blacking.  With  this 
blacking-brush  he  wrote  on  the  top  of  the 
box, — Lucy. 

"  Is  that  box  for  my  cousin  Lucy  ? n 
said  Rollo. 

"  Yes,"  said  he  ;  "  you  can  draw  it  to 
her,  can  you  not  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  "  we  will.  And 
who  are  the  other  apples  for  ?  You  can- 
not mark  them" 

"  No,"  said  the  farmer ;  "  but  you  will 
remember.  Those  before  the  box  are  for 
you,  and  those  behind  it  for  James.  i  So 
drive  along.  George  will  come  to  your 
house,  this  afternoon,  with  the  strawberry 
plants,  and  then  he  can  bring  the  wagon 
home." 


THE  STRAWBERRY-BED. 

George  Cropwell  came,  soon  after,  to 
Rollo's  house,  and  helped  him  make  a 
fine  strawberry -bed,  which,  he  said,  he 
thought  would  bear  considerably  the  next 
year.  They  dug  up  the  ground,  raked  it 
over  carefully,  and  then  put  in  the  plants 
in  rows. 


THE  APPLE-GATHERING.  153 

After  ii  was  all  done,  Rollo  got  per- 
mission of  his  father  to  go  back  with 
George  to  take  the  wagon  home;  and 
George  proposed  to  take  Rollo's  wheel- 
barrow too.  He  had  never  seen  such  a 
pretty  little  wheelbarrow,  and  was  very 
much  pleased  with  it.  So  George  ran  on 
before,  trundling  the  wheelbarrow,  and 
Rollo  came  after,  drawing  the  wagon. 

Just  as  they  came  near  the  farmer's 
house,  George  saw,  on  before  him,  a  rag- 
ged little  boy,  much  smaller  than  Rollo, 
who  was  walking  along  barefooted. 

"  There's  Tom,"  said  George. 

"Who?"  said  Rollo. 

"  Tom.     See  how  I  will  frighten  him." 

As  he  said  this,  George  darted  forward 
with  his  wheelbarrow,  and  trundled  it  on 
directly  towards  Tom,  as  if  he  was  going 
to  run  over  him.  Tom  looked  round,  and 
then  ran  away,  the  wheelbarrow  at  his 
heels.  He  was  frightened  very  much, 
and  began  to  scream  ;  and,  just  then, 
Farmer  Cropwejl,  who  at  that  moment 
happened  to  be  coming  up  a  lane,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  road,  called  out, 

"  George ! " 

George  stopped  his  wheelbarrow. 


154  THE   APPLE-GATHERING, 

"  Is  that  right  ?  "  said  the  farmer. 

"  Why,  I  was  not  going  to  hurt  him," 
said  George. 

"You  did  hurt  him — -you  frightened 
him." 

"  Is  frightening  him  hurting  him,  fa- 
ther?" 

"  Why,  yes,  it  is  giving  him  pain,  and 
a  very  unpleasant  kind  of  pain  too." 

"  I  did  not  think  of  that,"  said  George. 

"  Besides,"  said  his  father,  "  when  you 
treat  boys  in  that  harsh,  rough  way,  you 
make  them  your  enemies ;  and  it  is  a  very 
bad  plan  to  make  enemies." 

"  Enemies,  father  !  "  said  George,  laugh- 
ing ;  "  Tom  could  not  do  me  any  harm,  if 
he  was  my  enemy." 

"  That  makes  me  think  of  the  story  of 
the  bear  and  the  tomtit,"  said  the  farmer ; 
"  and,  if  you  and  Rollo  will  jump  up  in 
the  cart,  I  will  tell  it  to  you." 

Thus  far,  while  they  had  been  talking, 
the  boys  had  walked  along  by  the  side  of 
the  road,  keeping  up  with  the  farmer  as 
he  drove  along  in  the  cart.  But  now 
they  jumped  in,  and  sat  down  with  the 
farmer  on  his  seat,  which  was  a  board  laid 
across  from  one  side  of  the  cart  to  the 


v       THE  APPLE-GATHERING.         •    155 

other.     As  soon  as  they  were  seated,  the 
farmer  began. 



THE  FARMER'S  STORY. 

"  The  story  I  was  going  to  tell  you, 
boys,  is  an  old  fable  about  making  ene- 
mies. It  is  called  '  The  Bear  and  the 
Tomtit.5 " 

"  What  is  a  tomtit  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"It  is  a  kind  of  a  bird,  a  very  little 
bird  ;  but  he  sings  pleasantly.  Well,  one 
pleasant  summer's  day,  a  wolf  and  a  bear 
were  taking  a  walk  together  in  a  lonely 
wood.     They  heard  something  singing. 

"  '  Brother,5  said  the  bear,  *  that  is  good 
singing  :  what  sort  of  a  bird  do  you  think 
that  may  be  ?  5       .    " . 

"  <,That5s  a  tomtit,5  said  the  wolf. 

" i  I  should  like  to  see  his  nest,5  said 
the  bear  ;  l  where  do  you  think  it  is  ?  5 

"  J  If  we  wait  a  little  time,  till  his  mate 
eomes  home,  we  shall  see,5  said  the  wolf. 

"The  bear  and  the  wolf  walked  back- 
ward and  forward  some  time,  till  his  mate 
came  home  with  some  food  in  her  mouth 


r 

156  THE  APPLE-GATHERING. 

for  her  children.  The  wolf  and  the  bear 
watched  her.  She  went  to  the  tree  where 
the  bird  was  singing,  and  they  together 
flaw  to  a  little  grove  just  by,  and  went  to 
their  nest. 

"  '  Now,'  said  the  bear,  '  let  us  go  and 
see.' 

" 4  No,'  said  the  wolf,  <  we  must  wait 
till  the  old  birds  have  gone  away  again.' 

"  So  they  noticed  the  place,  and  walked 
away. 

"  They  did  not  stay  long,  for  the  bear 
was  very  impatient  to  see  the  nest.  They 
returned,  and  the  bear  scrambled  up  the 
tree,  expecting  to  amuse  himself  finely  by 
frightening  the  young  tomtits. 

"  '  Take  care,'  said  the  wolf;  l  you  had 
better  be  careful.  The  tomtits  are  little ; 
but  little  enemies  are  sometimes  very  trou- 
blesome.' 

"  '  Who  is  afraid  of  a  tomtit  ? '  said  the 
bear. 

"  So  saying,  he  poked  his  great  black 
nose  into  the  nest. 

"  c  Who  is  here  ? '  said  he ;  '  what  are 
you  ? ' 

"  The  poor  birds  screamed  out  with 
terror.    *  Go  away!  Go  away  ! '  said  they. 


THE  APPLE-GATHERING.  157 

ui  What  do  you  mean  by  making  such 
a  noise,5  said  he,  '  and  talking  so  to  me  r 
I  will  teach  you  better.'  So  he  put  his 
great  paw  on  the  nest,  and  crowded  it 
down  until  the  poor  little  birds  were  almost 
stifled.  Presently  he  left  them,  and  went 
away. 

"  The  young  tomtits  were  terribly  fright^ 
ened,  and  some  of  them  were  hurt.  As 
soon  as  the  bear  was  gone,  their  fright 
gave  way  to  anger ;  and,  soon  after,  the 
old  birds  came  home,  and  were  very  in- 
dignant too.  They  used  to  see  the  bear, 
occasionally,  prowling  about  the  woods, 
but  did  not  know  what  they  could  do  to 
bring  him  to  punishment. 

"  Now,  there  was  a  famous  glen,  sur- 
rounded by  high  rocks,  where  the  bear 
used  to  go  and  sleep,  because  it  was  a 
wild,  solitary  place.  The  tomtits  often 
saw  him  there.  One  day,  the  bear  was 
prowling  around,  and  he  saw,  at  a  great 
distance,  two  huntsmen,  with  guns,  com- 
ing towards  the  wood.  He  fled  to  his 
glen  in  dismay,  though  he  thought  he 
should  be  safe  there. 

"  The  tomtits  were  flying  about  there, 
and  presently  they   saw  the   huntsmen. 


158  THE  APPLE-GATHERING. 

'  Now,'  said  one  of  them  to  the  other,  l  is 
the  time  to  get  rid  of  the  tyrant ;  you  go 
and  see  if  he  is  in  his  glen,  and  then  come 
back  to  where  you  hear  me  singing.' 

"So  he  flew  about  from  tree  to  tree, 
keeping  in  sight  of  the  huntsmen,  and 
singing  all  the  time  ;  while  the  other  went 
and  found  that  the  bear  was  in  his  glen, 
crouched  down  in  terror  behind  a  rock. 

"  The  tomtits  then  began  to  flutter 
around  the  huntsmen,  and  fly  a  little  way 
towards  the  glen,  and  then  back  again. 
This  attracted  the  notice  of  the  men,  and 
they  followed  them  to  see  what  could  be 
the  matter. 

"  By  and  by,  the  bear  saw  the  terrible 
huntsmen  coming,  led  on  by  his  little  ene- 
mies, the  tomtits.  He  sprang  forward, 
and  ran  from  one  side  of  the  glen  to  the 
other;  but  he  could  not  escape.  They 
shot  him  with  two  bullets  through  his  head. 
|  "  The  wolf  happened  to  be  near  by,  at 
that  time,  upon  the  rocks  that  were  around 
the  glen;  and,  hearing  all  this  noise,  he 
came  and  peeped  over.  As  soon  as  he 
saw  how  the  case  stood,  he  thought  it 
would  be  most  prudent  for  him  to  walk 
away ;  which  he  did,  saying,  as  he  went, 


THE  APPLE-GATHERING.  159 

"  c  Well,  the  bear  has  found  out  that  it 
is  better  to  have  a  person  a  friend  than  an 
enemy,  whether  he  is  great  or  small."7 

Here  the  farmer  paused — he  had  ended 
the  story. 

"  And  what  did  they  do  with  the  bear?  " 
said  Rollo. 

"  O,  they  took  off  his  skin  to  make  caps 
of,  and  nailed  his  claws  up  on  the  barn." 


GEORGIE. 


"  He  heard  a  very  sweet  voice  calling  out  to  Awn,  Rollo !" 

Page  164. 


GEORGIE. 


THE   LITTLE    LANDING. 

A  short  distance  from  where  Rollo  lives, 
there  is  a  small,  but  very  pleasant  house, 
just  under  the  hill,  where  you  go  down  to 
the  stone  bridge  leading  over  the  brook. 
There  is  a  noble  large  apple  tree  on  one 
side  of  the  house,  which  bears  a  beauti- 
ful, sweet,  and  mellow  kind  of  apple,  called 
golden  pippins.  A  great  many  other  trees 
and  flowers  are  around  the  house,  and  in 
the  little  garden  on  the  side  of  it  towards 
the  brook.  There  is  a  small  white  gate 
that  leads  to  the  house,  from  the  road  ; 
and  there  is  a  pleasant  path  leading  right 
out  from  the  front  door,  through  the  gar- 
den, down  to  the  water.  This  is  the  house 
that  Georgie  lives  in. 

One  evening,  just  before  sunset,  Rollo 
was  coming  along  over  the  stone  bridge, 
towards  home.     He  stopped  a  moment  to 


164  GEORGIE. 

look  over  the  railing,  down  into  the  water. 
Presently  he  heard  a  very  sweet-toned 
voice  calling  out  to  him, 

"  Rol-lo."  * 

Rollo  looked  along  in  the  direction  in 
which  the  sound  came.  It  was  from  the 
bank  of  the  stream,  a  little  way  from  the 
road,  at  the  place  where  the  path  from 
Georgie's  house  cametlown  to  the  water. 
The  brook  was  broad,  and  the  water  pretty 
smooth  and  still  here  ;  and  it  was  a  place 
where  Rollo  had  often  been  to  sail  boats 
writh  Georgie.  There  w7as  a  little  smooth, 
sandy  place  on  the  shore,  at  the  foot  of  the 
path,  and  they  used  to  call  it  Georgie's 
landing ;  and  there  was  a  seat  close  by, 
under  the  bushes. 

Rollo  thought  it  was  Georgie's  voice  that 
called  him,  and  in  a  minute,  he  saw  him 
sitting  on  his  little  seat,  with  his  crutches 
by  his  side.  Georgie  was  a  sick  boy. 
He  could  not  walk,  but  had  to  sit  almost 
all  day,  at  home,  in  a  large  easy  chair, 
which  his  father  had  bought  for  him.  In 
the  winter,  his  chair  was  established  in  a 
Darticular  corner,  by  the  side  of  the  fire, 

*  See  picture  at  the  beginning  of  this  story. 


GEORGIE.       '  165 

and  he  had  a  little  case  of  shelves  and 
drawers,  painted  green,  by  the  side  of  him. 
In  these  shelves  and  drawers  he  had  his 
books  and  playthings, — his  pen  and  ink, — 
his  paint-box,  brushes  and  pencils, — his 
knife,  and  a  little  saw, — and  a  great  ma- 
ny things  which  he  used  to  make  for  his 
amusement.  Then,  in  the  summer,  his 
chair,  and  his  shelves  and  drawers,  were 
moved  to  the  end  window,  which  looked 
out  upon  the  garden  and  brook.  Some- 
times, when  he  was  better  than  usual,  he 
could  move  about  a  little  upon  crutches  ; 
and,  at  such  times,  when  it  was  pleasant, 
he  used  to  go  out  into  the  garden,  and 
down,  through  it,  to  his  landing,  at  the 
brook. 

Georgie  had  been  sick  a  great  many 
years,  and  when  Rollo  and  Jonas  first 
knew  him,  he  used  to  be  very  sad  and 
unhappy.  It  was  because  the  poor  little 
fellow  had  nothing  to  do.  His  father  had 
to  work  pretty  hard  to  get  food  and  cloth- 
ing for  his  family  ;  he  loved  little  Georgie 
very  much,  but  he  could  not  buy  him  many 
things.  Sometimes  people  who  visited 
him,  used  to  give  him  playthings,  and 
they  would  amuse  him  a  little  while, 


166  GEORGIE. 

but  he  soon  grew  tired  of  them,  and  had 
them  put  away-.  It  is  very  hard  for  any- 
body to  be  happy  who  has  not  any  thing 
to  do. 

It  was  Jonas  that  taught  Georgie  what 
to  do.  He  lent  him  his  knife,  and  brought 
him  some  smooth,  soft,  pine  wood,  and 
taught  him  to  make  wind-mills  and  little 
boxes.  Georgie  liked  this  very  much, 
and  used  to  sit  by  his  window  in  the  sum- 
mer mornings,  and  make  playthings,  hours 
at  a  time.  After  he  had  made  several 
things,  Jonas  told  the  boys  that  lived 
about  there,  that  they  had  better  buy  them 
of  him,  when  they  had  a  few  cents  to  spend 
for  toys ;  and  they  did.  In  fact,  they  liked 
the  little  windmills,  and  wagons,  and 
small  framed  houses  that  Georgie  made, 
better  than  sugar-plums  and  candy.  Be- 
sides, they  liked  to  go  and  see  Georgie ;  for, 
whenever  they  went  to  buy  any  thing  of 
him,  he  looked  so  contented  and  happy, 
sitting  in  his  easy  chair,  with  his  small  and 
slender  feet  drawn  up  under  him,  and  his 
work  on  the  table  by  his  side. 

Then  he  was  a  very  beautiful  boy  too. 
His  face  was  delicate  and  pale,  but  there 
was  such  a  kind  and  gentle  expression  in 
his  mild  blue  eye,  and  so  much  sweetness 


GEORGIE.  167 

in  the  tone  of  his  voice,  that  they  loved 
very  much  to  go  and  see  him.  In  fact,  all 
the  boys  were  very  fond  of  Georgie. 


GEORGIE'S  MONEY. 

Georgie,  at  length,  earned,  in  this  way, 
quite  a  little  sum  of  money.  It  was  nearly 
all  in  cents ;  but  then  there  was  one  four- 
pence  which  a  lady  gave  him  for  a  four- 
wheeled  wagon  that  he  made.  He  kept 
this  money  in  a  corner  of  his  drawer,  and, 
at  last,  there  was  quite  a  handful  of  it. 

One  summer  evening,  when  Georgie's 
father  came  home  from  his  work,  he  hung 
up  his  hat,  and  came  and  sat  down  in 
Georgie's  corner,  by  the  side  of  his  little 
boy.  Georgie  looked  up  to  him  with  a 
smile. 

"  Well,  father,"  said  he,  "  are  you  tired 
to-night  ?  "  ■    .v 

"  You  are  the  one  to  be  tired,  Georgie," 
said  he,  "  sitting  here  alone  all  day." 

"  Hold  up  your  hand,  father,"  said 
Georgie,  reaching  out  his  own  at  the  same 
time,  which  was  shut  up,  and  appeared  to 
have  something  in  it. 


168  GEORGIE.  '      #.   ' 

"  Why,  what  have  you  got  forme  ?"  said 
his  father. 

"Hold  fast  all  I  give  you,"  replied  he  ; 
and  he  dropped  the  money  all  into  his 
father's  hand,  and  shut  up  his  father's  fin- 
gers over  it. 

"  What  is  all  this  ?  "  said  his  father. 

"  It  is  my  money,"  said  he,  "  for  you. 
It  is  'most  all  cents,  but  then  there  is  one 
fourpence." 

"  I  am  sure,  I  am  much  obliged  to  you, 
Georgie,  for  this." 

"  O  no,"  said  Georgie,  "it's  only  a  little 
of  what  you  have  to  spend  for  me." 

Georgie's  father  took  the  money,  and 
put  it  in  his  pocket,  and  the  next  day  he 
went  to  Jonas,  and  told  him  about  it,  and 
asked  Jonas  to  spend  it  in  buying  such 
things  as  he  thought  would  be  useful  to 
Georgie  ;  either  playthings,  or  tools,  or  ma- 
terials to  work  with. 

Jonas  said  he  should  be  very  glad  to  do 
it,  for  he  thought  he  could  buy  him  some 
things  that  would  help  him  very  much  in 
his  work.  Jonas  carried  the  money  into 
the  city  the  next  time  he  went,  and  bought 
him  a  small  hone  to  sharpen  his  knife,  a 
fine-toothed  saw,  and  a  bottle  of  black  var- 


GEORGIE.  169 

nish,  with  a  little  brush,  to  put  it  on  with. 
He  brought  these  things  home,  and  gave 
them  to  Georgie's  father  ;  and  he  carried 
them  into  the  house,  and  put  them  in  a 
drawer. 

That  evening,  when  Georgie  was  at  sup- 
per, his  father  slyly  put  the  things  that 
Jonas  had  bought  on  his  table,  so  that 
when  he  went  back,  after  supper,  he  found 
them  there.  He  was  very  much  surprised 
and  pleased.  He  examined  them  all  very 
particularly,  and  was  especially  glSd  to 
have  the  black  varnish,  for  now  he  could 
varnish  his  work,  and  make  it  look  much 
more  handsome.  The  little  boxes  that  he 
made,  after  this,  of  a  bright  black  outside, 
and  lined  neatly  with  paper  within,  were 
thought  by  the  boys  to  be  elegant. 

He  could  now  earn  money  faster,  and, 
as  his  father  insisted  on  having  all  his 
earnings  expended  for  articles  for  Georgie's 
own  use,  and  Jonas  used  to  help  him  about 
expending  it,  he  got/at  last,  quite  a  variety 
of  implements  and  articles.  He  had  some 
wire,  and  a  little  pair  of  pliers  for  bend- 
ing it  in  all  shapes,  and  a  hammer  and 
little  nails.  He  had  also  a  paint-box  and 
brushes,  and  paper  of  various  colors,  for 
h  p 


170  GEORGIE. 

lining  boxes,  and  making  portfolios  and 
pocket-books ;  and  he  had  varnishes,  red, 
green,  blue,  and  black.  All  these  he  kept 
in  his  drawers  and  shelves,  and  made  a 
great  many  ingenious  things  with  them. 

So  Georgie  was  a  great  friend  of  both 
Rollo  and  Jonas,  and  they  often  used  to 
come  and  see  him,  and  play  with  him  ;  and 
that  was  the  reason  that  Rollo  knew  his 
voice  so  well,  when  he  called  to  him  from 
the  landing,  when  Rollo  w7as  standing  on 
the  bridge,  as  described  in  the  beginning 
of  this  story. 


TWO  GOOD  FRIENDS. 


Rollo  ran  along  to  the  end  of  the  bridge, 
clambered  down  to  the  water's  edge,  went 
along  the  shore  among  the  trees  and  shrub- 
bery, until  he  came  to  the  seat  where 
Georgie  was  sitting.  Georgie  asked  him 
to  sit  down,  and  stay  with  him  ;  but  Rollo 
said  he  must  go  directly  home  ;  and  so  Geor- 
gie took  his  crutches,  and  they  began  to 
walk  slowly  together  up  the  garden  walk, 
i  "  Where  have  you  been,  Rollo  ?  "  said 
Georgie. 


'  ,      •     GEORGIK  171 

r<  I  have  been  to  see  my  cousin  Janies, 
to  ask  him  to  go  to  the  city  with  us  to- 
morrow." 

"  Are  you  going  to  the  city  ?  " 

"  Yes ;  uncle  George  gave  James  and  I 
a  half  a  dollar  apiece,  the  other  day;  and 
mother  is  going  to  carry  us  into  the  city 
to-morrow  to  buy  something  with  it." 

"  Is  Jonas  going  with  you  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Rollo.  "He  is  going  to 
drive.     We  are  going  in  our  carryall." 

"  I  wish  you  would  take  some  money 
for  me,  then,  and  get  Jonas  to  buy  me 
something  with  it." 

"  Well,  I  will,"  said  Rollo.  "  What 
shall  he  buy  for  you  ?  " 

"  O,  he  may  buy  any  thing  he  chooses." 

"  Yes,  but  if  you  do  not  tell  him  what 
to  buy,  he  may  buy  something  you  have 
got  already." 

"O,  Jonas  knows  every  thing  I  have 
got  as  well  as  I  do." 

Just  then  they  came  up  near  the  house, 
and  Georgie  asked  Rollo  to  look  up  at  the 
golden  pippin  tree,  and  see  how  full  it  was. 

"That  is  my  branch,"  said  he.    , 

He  pointed  to  a  large  branch  which 
came  out  on  one  side,  and  which  hung 


172  GEORGIE. 

down  loaded  with  fruit.  It  would  have 
broken  down,  perhaps,  if  there  had  not 
been  a  crotched  pole  put  Under  it,  to  prop 
it  up. 

"But  all  the  apples  on  your  branch  are 
not  golden  pippins,"  said  Rollo.  "  There 
are  some  on  it  that  are  red.  What  beau- 
tiful red  apples !  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Georgie.  "  Father  grafted 
that  for  me,  to  make  it  bear  rosy-bo ys.  I 
call  the  red  ones  my  rosy-boys." 

"  Grafted  ?  "  said  Rollo ;  "  how  did  he 
graft  it  ?  " 

"  O,"  said  Georgie,  "  I  do  not  know 
exactly.  He  cut  off  a  little  branch  from  a 
rosy-boy  tree,  and  stuck  it  on  somehow, 
and   it  grew,  and  bears  rosy- boys  still." 

Rollo  thought  this  was  very  curious; 
Georgie  told  him  he  would  give  him  an 
apple,  and  that  he  might  have  his  choice — 
a  pippin  or  a  rosy- boy. 

Rollo  hesitated,  and  looked  at  them, 
first  at  one,  and  then  at  another ;  but  he 
could  not  decide.  The  rosy-boys  had  the 
brightest  and  most  beautiful  color,  but 
then  the  pippins  looked  so  rich  and  mellow, 
that  he  could  not  choose  very  easily ; 
and  so  Georgie  laughed,  and  told  him  he 


GEOKGIE. 


173 


would  settle  the  difficulty  by  giving  him 
one  of  each. 

"  So  come  here,"  said  he,  "  Rollo,  and 
let  me  lean  on  you,  while  I  knock  them 
down." 

So  Rollo  came  and  stood  near  him, 
wrhile  Georgie  leaned  on  him,  and  with 
his  crutch  gave  a  gentle  tap  to  one  of 
each  of  his  kinds  of  apples,  and  they  fell 
down  upon  the  soft  grass,  safe  and  sound. 


174  GEORGIE. 

They  then  went  into  the  house,  and 
Georgie  gave  Rollo  his  money,  wrapped 
up  in  a.  small  piece  of  paper ;  and  then 
Rollo,  bidding  him  good  by,  went  out  of 
the  little  white  gate,  and  walked  along 
home. 

The  next  morning,  soon  after  breakfast, 
Jonas  drove  the  carryall  up  to  the  front 
door,  and  Rollo  and  his  mother  walked 
out  to  it.  Rollo's  mother  took  the  back 
seat,  and  Rollo  and  Jonas  sat  in  front,  and 
they  drove  along. 

They  called  at  the  house  where  James 
lived,  and  found  him  waiting  for  them  on 
the  front  steps,  with  his  half  dollar  in  his 
hand. 

He  ran  into  the  house  to  .tell  his  mother 
that  the  carryall  had  come,  and  to  bid  her 
good  morning,  and  then  he  came  out  to 
the  gate. 

"  James,"  said  Rollo,  "  you  may  sit  on 
the  front  seat  with  Jonas,  if  you  want 
to." 

James  said  he  should  like  to  very  much ; 
and  so  Rollo  stepped  over  behind,  and  sat 
with  his  mother.  This  was  kind  and  polite ; 
for  boys  all  like  the  front  seat  when  they 


GEORGIE.  175 

are  riding,  and  Rollb  therefore  did  right  to 
offer  it  to  his  cousin. 


A  LECTURE  ON  PLAYTHINGS. 

After  a  short  time,  the y  came  to  a  smooth 
and  pleasant  road,  with  trees  and  farm- 
houses on  each  side  ;  and  as  the  horse  was 
trotting  along  quietly,  Rollo  asked  his 
mother  if  she  could  not  tell  them  a  story. 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  a  story  very  well, 
this  morning,  but  I  can  give  you  a  lecture 
on  playthings,  if  you  wish." 

H  Very  well,  mother,  we  should  like 
that,"  said  the  boys. 

They  did  not  know  very  well  what  a 
lecture  was,  but  they  thought  that  any 
thing  which  their  mother  would  propose 
would  be  interesting. 

"  Do  you  know  what  a  lecture  is  ?.  f 
said  she. 

"  Not  exactly,"  said  Rollo. 

"Why,  I  should  explain  to  you  about 
playthings,- — the  various  kinds,  their  use, 
the  way  to  keep  them,  and  to  derive  the 
most  pleasure  from  them,  &,c.    Giving  you 


176  GEOItGlE. 

this  information  will  not  be  as  interesting 
to  you  as  to  hear  a  story ;  but  it  will  be 
more  useful,  if  you  attend  carefully^  and 
endeavor  to  remember  what  I  say." 

The  boys  thought  they  should  like  the 
lecture,  arid  promised  to  attend.  Rollo  said 
he  would  remember  it  all ;  and  so  his 
mother  began. 

"  The  value  of  a  plaything  does  not 
consist  in  itself,  but  in  the  pleasure  it 
awakens  in  your  mind.  Do  you  under- 
stand that  ?  " 

"  Not  very  well,"  said  Rollo. 

"  If  you  should  give  a  round  stick  to  a 
baby  on  the  floor,  and  let  him  strike  the 
floor  with  it,  he  would  be  pleased.  You 
would  see  by  his  looks  that  it  gave  him 
great  pleasure.  Now,  where  would  this 
pleasure  be, — in  the  stick,  or  in  the  floor, 
or  in  the  baby  ?  " 

"  Why,  in  the  baby,"  said  Rollo,  laugh- 
ing- 

"  Yes  ;  and  would  it  be  in  his  body,  or 
in  his  mind  ?  " 

"  In  his  face,"  said  James. 

"  In  his  eyes,"  said  Rollo. 

"  You  would  see  the  signs  of'  it  in  his 
face  and  in  his  eyas,  but  the  feeling  of 


GEORGIE.      /  177 

pleasure  would  be  in  his  mind.  Now,  I 
suppose  you  understand  what  I  said,  that 
the  value  of  the  plaything  consists  in  the 
pleasure  it  can  awaken  in  the  mind." 

"  Yes,  mother,"  said  Rollo. 

"  There  is  your  jumping  man,"  said  she; 
"  is  that  a  good  plaything  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Rollo,  "  my  kicker.  But  I 
don't  care  much  about  it.  •  I  don't  know 
where  it  is  now." 

"  What  was  it  ?  "  said  James.  "  / 
never  saw  it." 

"  It  was  a  pasteboard  man,"  said  his 
mother ;  "  and  there  was  a  string  behind, 
fixed  so  that,  by  pulling  it,  you  could 
make  his  arms  and  legs  fly  about." 

"  Yes,"  said  Rollo,  "  I  called  him  my 
kicker." 

"  You  liked  it  very  much,  when  you 
first  had  it." 

"  Yes,"  said  Rollo,  "  but  I  don?t  think 
it  is  very  pretty  now." 

"  That  shows  what  I  said  was  true. 
When  you  first  had  it,  it  was  new,  and 
the  sight  of  it  gave  you  pleasure  ;  but  the 
pleasure  consisted  in  the  novelty  and  droll- 
ery of  it,  and  after  a  little  while,  when 
you  became  familiar  with  it,  it  ceased  to 
12 


178  GEORGIS. 

give  you  pleasure,  and  then  you  did  not 
value  it.  I  found  it  the  other  day  lying 
on  the  ground  in  the  yard,  and  took  it  up 
and  put  it  away  carefully  in  a  drawer." 

"  But  if  the  value  is  all  gone,  what  good 
does  it  do  to  save  it  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  The  value  to  you  is  gone,  because  you 
have  become  familiar  with  it,  and  so  it  has 
lost  its  power  to  awaken  feelings  of  pleas- 
ure in  you.  But  it  has  still  power  to  give 
pleasure  to  other  children,  who  have  not 
seen  it,  and  I  kept  it  for  them." 

"  I  should  like  to  see  it,  very  much," 
said  James.     "  I  never  saw  such  a  one." 

"  I  will  show  it  to  you  some  time. 
Now,  this  is  one  kind  of  plaything,  —  those 
which  please  by  their  novelty  only.  It  is 
not  generally  best  to  buy  such  playthings, 
for  you  very  soon  get  familiar  with  them, 
and  then  they  ce»ase  to  give  you  pleasure, 
and  are  almost  worthless." 

"  Only  we  ought  to  keep  them,  if  we 
have  them,  to  show  to  other  boys,"  said 
Rollo. 

"  Yes,"  said  his  mother.  "  You  ought 
never  to  throw  them  away,  or  leave  them 
on  the  floor,  or  on  the  ground." 

"  O,  the  little  fool,"  said  Rollo  suddenly. 


GLORCxlE.  179 

His  mother  and  James  looked  up,  won- 
dering what  Rollo  meant.  He  was  look- 
ing out  at  the  side  of  the  carryall,  at  some- 
thing about  the  wheel. 

"  What  is  it,"  said  his  mother. 

"  Why,  here  is  a  large  fly  trying  to  light 
on  the  wheel,  and  every  time  his  legs  touch 
it,  it  knocks  them  away.     See  !  See  !  "   , 

"  Yes,  but  you  must  not  attend  to  him 
now.  You  must  listen  to  my  lecture. 
You  promised  to  give  your  attention  to 
me." 

So  James  and  Rollo  turned  away  from 
the  window,  and  began  to  listen  again. 

"  I  have  told  you  now,"  sa  id  she,  "  of 
one  kind  of  playthings — those  that  give 
pleasure  from  their  novelty  only.  There 
is  another  kind — those  that  give  you  pleas- 
ure by  their  use  ; — such  as  a  doll,  for  ex- 
ample." 

"  How,  mother?  Is  a  doll  of  any  use?" 

"  Yes,  in  one  sense ;  that  is,  the  girl 
who  has  it,  uses  it  continually.  Perhaps 
she  admired  the  looks  of  it,  the  first  day 
it  was  given  to  her ;  but  then,  after  that, 
she  can  use  it  in  so  many  ways,  that  it 
continues  to  afford  her  pleasure  for  a  long 
time.     She  can  dress  and  undress  it,  put 


180  GiLORGIE. 

it  to  bed,  make  it  sit  up  for  company,  and 
do  a  great  many  other  things  with  it. 
When  she  gets  tired  of  playing  with  it  one 
day,  she  puts  it  away,  and  the  next  day 
she  thinks  of  something  new  to  do  with 
it,  which  she  never  thought  of  before. 
Now,  which  should  you  think  the  pleasure 
you  should  obtain  from  a  ball,  would  arise 
from,  its  novelty,  or  its  use  ?  " 

"  Its  use"  said  the  boys. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  mother.  "  The  first 
sight  of  a  ball  would  not  give  you  any  very 
special  pleasure.  Its  value  would  consist 
in  the  pleasure  you  wTouJd  take  in  playing 
with  it. 

"Now,  it  is  generally  best  to  buy  such 
playthings  as  you  can  use  a  great  many 
times,  and  in  a  great  many  ways  ;  such  as 
a  top,  a  ball,  a  knife,  a  wheelbarrow.  But 
things  that  please  you  only  by  their  novelty, 
will  soon  lose  all  their  power  to  give  you 
pleasure,  and  be  good  for  nothing  to  you. 
Such,  for  instance,  as  jumping  men,  and 
witches,  and  funny  little  images.  Chil- 
dren are  very  often  deceived  in  buying  their 
playthings ;  for  those  things  which  please 
by  their  novelty  only,  usually  please  them 
very  much  for  a  few  minutes,  while  they 


GEORGIE.  181 

are  in  the  shop,  and  see  them  for  the  first 
time ;  while  those  things  which  would 
last  a  long  time,  do  not  give  them  much 
pleasure  at  first. 

"  There  is  another  kind  of  playthings 
I  want  to  tell  you  about  a  little,  and  then 
my  lecture  will  i  be  done.  I  mean  play- 
things which  give  you  pleasure,  but  give 
other  persons  pain.  A  drum  and  a  whistle, 
for  example,  are  disagreeable  to  other  per- 
sons; and  children,  therefore,  ought  not  to 
choose  them,  unless  they  have  a  place  to 
go  to,  to  play  with  them,  which  will  be 
out  of  hearing.  I  have  known  boys  to 
buy  masks  to  frighten  other  children  with, 
and  bows  and  arrows,  which  sometimes 
are  the  means  of  putting  out  children's 
eyes.  So  you  must  consider,  when  you 
are  choosing  playthings,  first,  whether  the 
pleasure  they  will  give  you  will  be  from 
the  novelty  or  the  use;  and,  secondly, 
whether,  in  giving  you  pleasure,  they  will 
give  any  other  persons  pain. 

"  This  is  the  end  of  the  lecture.  Now 
you  may  rest  a  little,  and  look  about,  and 
then  I  will  tell  you  a  short  story." 


182  GEORGIE. 


THE  YOUNG  DRIVERS. 

They  came,  about  this  time,  to  the  foot 
of  a  long  hill,  and  Jonas  said  he  believed 
that  he  would  get  out  and  walk  up,  and  A 
he  said  James  might  drive  the  horse.  So 
he  put  the  reins  into  James's  hands,  and 
jumped  out.  Rollo  climbed  over  the  seat, 
and  sat  by  his  side.  Presently  James  saw 
a  large  stone  in  the  road,  and  he  asked 
Rollo  to  see  how  well  he  could  drive  round 
it;  for  as  the  horse  was  going,  he  would 
have  carried  one  wheel  directly  over  it. 
So  he  pulled  one  of  the  reins,  and  turned 
the  horse  away ;  but  he  contrived  to  turn 
him  out  just  far  enough  to  make  the  other 
wheel  go  over  the  stone.  Rollo  laughed, 
and  asked  him  to  let  him  try  the  next 
time  ;  and  James  gave  him  the  reins  ;  but 
there  was  no  other  stone  till  they  got  up 
to  the  top  of  the  hill. 

Then  James  said  that  Rollo  might  ride 
on  the  front  seat  now,  and  when  Jonas  " 
got  in,  he  climbed  back  to  the  back  seat, 
and  took  his  place  by  the  side  of  Rollo's 
mother. 

"  Come,  mother,"  then  said  Rollo,  "we 


GfconmE.  183 

are  rested  enough  now :  please  to  begin 
the  story." 

"  Very  well,  if  you  are  all  ready." 

So  she  began  as  follows : — 

THE  STORY   OF   SHALLOW,  SELFISH,  AND  WISE. 

Once  there  were  three  boys  going  into  town  to 
buy  some  playthings :  their  names  were  Shallow, 
Selfish,  and  Wise.  Each  had  half  a  dollar. 
Shallow  carried  his  in  his  hand,  tossing  it  up  in 
the  air,  and  catching  it,  as  he  went  along.  Selfish 
kept  teasing  his  mother  to  give  him  some  more 
money :  half  a  dollar,  he  said,  was  not  enough. 
Wise  walked  along  quietly,  with  his  cash  safe  in 
his  pocket. 

Presently  Shallow  missed  catching  his  half  dol- 
lar, and — chink — it  went,  on  the  sidewalk,  and 
it  rolled  along  down  into  a  crack  under  a  building. 
Then  he  began  to  cry.  Selfish  stood  by,  holding 
his  own  money  tight  in  his  hands,  and  said  he  did 
not  pity  Shallow  at  all ;  it  was  good  enough  for 
him  ;  he  had  no  business  to  be  tossing  it  up.  Wise 
came  up,  and  tried  to  get  the  money  out  with  a 
stick,  but  he  could  not.  He  told  Shallow  not  to 
cry ;  said  he  was  sorry  he  had  lost  his  money,  and 
that  he  would  give  him  half  of  his,  as  soon  as  they 
could  get  it  changed  at  the  shop. 

So  they  walked  along  to  the  toy-shop. 

Their  mother  said  that  each  one  might  choose 
his  own  plaything ;  so  they  began  to  look  around 
on  the  counter  and  shelves. 


184  GEORttlE. 

After  a  while.  Shallow  began  to  laugh  very  loud 
and  heartily  at  something  he  found.  It  was  an 
image  of  a  grinning  monkey.  It  looked  very  droll 
indeed.  Shallow  asked  Wise  to  come  and  see. 
Wise  laughed  at  it  too,  but  said  he  should  not  want 
to  buy  it,  as  he  thought  he  should  soon  get  tired 
of  laughing  at  any  thing,  if  it  was  ever  so  droll. 

Shallow  was  sure  that  he  should  never  get  tired 
of  laughing  at  so  very  droll  a  thing  as  the  grinning 
monkey ;  and  he  decided  to  buy  it,  if  Wise  would 
give  him  half  of  his  money  ;  and  so  Wise  did. 

Selfish  found  a  rattle,  a  large,  noisy  rattle,  and 
went  to  springing  it  until  they  were  all  tired  of 
hearing  the  noise. 

"  I  think  I  shall  buy  this,"  said  he.  "  I  can 
make  believe  that  there  is  a  fire,  and  can  run  about 
springing  my  rattle,  and  crying,  <  Fire !  Fire !  •  or  I 
can  play  that  a  thief  is  breaking  into  a  store,  and 
can  rattle  my  rattle  at  him,  and  call  out,  *  Stop 
thief!"5 

"  But  that  will  disturb  all  the  people  in  the 
house,"  said  Wise. 

"  What  care  I  for  that? "  said  Selfish. 

Selfish  found  that  the  price  of  his  rattle  was  not 
so  much  as  the  half  dollar;  so  he  laid  out  the  rest 
of  it  in  cake,  and  sat  down  on  a  box,  and  began 
to  eat  it. 

Wise  passed  by  all  the  images  and  gaudy  toys, 
only  good  to  look  at  a  few  times,  and  chose  a  soft 
ball,  and  finding  that  that  did  not  take  all  of  his  half 
of  the  money,  he  purchased,  a  little  morocco  box 
with  an  inkstand,  some  wafers,  and  one  or  two 


GEORGTE.  185 

short  pens  in  it.  Shallow  told  him  that  was  not 
a  plaything ;  it  was  only  fit  for  a  school ;  and 
as  to  his  balr,  he  did  not  think  much  of  that. 

Wise  said  he  thought  they  could  all  play  with 
the  ball  a  great  many  times,  and  he  thought,  too, 
that  he  should  like  his  little  inkstand  rainy  days 
and  winter  evenings. 

So  the  boys  walked  along  home.  Shallow 
stopped  every  moment  to  laugh  at  his  monkey, 
and  Selfish  to  spring  his  rattle ;  and  they  looked 
with  contempt  on  Wise's  ball,  which  he  carried 
quietly  in  one  hand,  and  his  box  done  up  in  brown 
paper  in  the  other. 

When  they  got  home,  Shallow  ran  in  to  show 
his  monkey.  The  people  smiled  a  little,  but  did 
not  take  much  notice  of  it ;  and,  in  fact,  it  did  not 
look  half  so  funny,  even  to  himself,  as  it  did  in  the 
shop.  In  a  short  time,  it  did  not  make  him  laugh 
at  all,  and  then  he  was  vexed  and  angry  with  it. 
He  said  he  meant  to  go  and  throw  the  ugly  old 
baboon  away ;  he  was  tired  of  seeing  that  same  old 
grin  on  his  face  all  the  time.  So  he  went  and 
threw  it  over  the  wall. 

Selfish  ate  his  cake  up,  on  his  way  home.  He 
.  would  not  give  his  brothers  any,  for  he  said  they 
had  had  their  money  as  well  as  he.  When  he 
got  home,  he  went  about  the  house,  up  and  down, 
through  parlor  and  chamber,  kitchen  and  shed, 
springing  his  rattle,  and  calling  out,  "  Stop  thief  1 
Stop  thief! "  or  "  Fire  !  Fire  !  "  Every  body 
got  tired,  and  asked  him  to  be  still ;  but  he  did  not 
h*  **■ 


186  GJEORGIE. 

mind,  until,  at  last,  his  father  took  his  rattle  away 
from  him,  and  put  it  up  on  a  high  shelf. 

Then  Selfish  and  Shallow  went  out  and  found 
Wise  playing  beautifully  with  his  ball  in  the  yard ; 
and  he  invited  them  to  play  with  him.  They 
would  toss  it  up  against  the  wall,  and  learn  to 
catch  it  when  it  came  down ;  and  then  they  made 
some  bat-sticks,  and  knocked  it  back  and  forth  to 
one  another,  about  the  yard.  The  more  they 
played  with  the  ball,  the  more  they  liked  it,  and, 
as  Wise  was  always  very  careful  not  to  play 
near  any  holes,  and  to  put  it  away  safe  when  he 
had  done  with  it,  he  kept  it  a  long  time,  and  gave 
them  pleasure  a  great  many  times  all '  summer 
long. 

And  then  his  inkstand  box  was  a  great  treasure. 
He  would  get  it  out  in  the  long  winter  evenings, 
and  lend  Selfish  and  Shallow,  each,  one  of  his 
pens ;  and  they  would  all  sit  at  the  table,  and  make 
pictures,  and  write  little  letters,  and  seal  them  with 
small  bits  of  the  wafers.  In  fact,  Wise  kept  his 
inkstand  box  safe  till  he  grew  up  to  be  a  man. 

That  is  the  end  of  the  story. 


THE  TOY-SHOP. 

"  I  wish  I  could  get  an  inkstand  box," 
said  Rollo,  when  the  story  was  finished. 


GEORGIE.  187 

"I  think  he  was  very  foolish  to  throw 
away  his  grinning  monkey,"  said  James. 
"I  wish  I  could  see  a  grinning  mon- 
key." 

They  continued  talking  about  this  story 
some  time,  and  at  length  they  drew  nigh 
to  the  city.  They  drove  to  a  stable, 
where  Jonas  had  the  horse  put  up,  and 
then  they  all  walked  on  in  search  of  a 
toy-  shop. 

They  passed  along  through  one  or  two 
streets,  walking  very  slowly,  so  that  the 
boys  might  look  at  the  pictures  and  curi- 
ous things  in  the  shop  windows.  At 
length  they  came  to  a  toy-shop,  and  all 
went  In. 

They  saw  at  once  a  great  number  and 
variety  of  playthings  exhibited  to  view. 
All  around  the  floor  were  arranged  horses 
on  wheels,  little  carts,  wagons,  and  baskets. 
The  counter  had  a  great  variety  of  images 
and  figures, — birds  that  would  peep,  and 
dogs  that  would  bark,  and  drummers  that 
would  drum— all  by  just  turning  a  little 
handle.  Then  the  shelves  and  the  win- 
dow were  filled  with  all  sorts  of  boxes, 
and  whips,  and  puzzles,  and  tea-sets,  and 


188  GEORGIE. 

dolls,  dressed  and  not  dressed.  There 
were  bows  and  arrows,  and  darts,  and 
jumping  ropes,  and  glass  dogs,  and  little 
rocking-horses,  and  a  thousand  other 
things. 

When  the  boys  first  came  in,  there  was 
a  little  girl  standing  by  the  counter  with 
a  small  slate  in  her  hand.  She  looked 
like  a  poor  girl,  though  she  was  neat 
and  tidy  in  her  dress.  She  was  talking 
with  the  shopman  about  the  slate. 

"  Don't  you  think,"  said  she,  "  you 
could  let  me  have  it  for  ten  cents  ?  " 

"No,"  said  he,  "I  could  not  afford  it 
for  less  than  fifteen.  It  cost  me  more 
than  ten." 

The  little  girl  laid  the  slate  down,  and 
looked  disappointed  and  sad.  Rollo's 
mother  came  up  to  her,  took  lip  the  slate* 
and  said, 

"  I  should  think  you  had  better  give 
him  fifteen  cents.  It  is  a  very  good  slate. 
It  is  worth  as  much  as  that,  certainly." 

"  Yes,  madam,  so  I  tell  her,"  said  the 
shopman. 

"But  I  have  not  got  but  ten  cents," 
said  the  little  girl. 


GEORGIE.  189 

i  Have  not  you  ?  "  said  Rollo's  mother. 
She  stood  still  thinking  a  moment,  and 
then  she  asked  the  little  girl  what  her 
name  was. 

She  said  it  was  Maria. 

She  asked  her  what  she  wanted  the 
slate  for ;  and  Maria  said  it  was  to  do 
sums  on,  at  school.  She  wanted  to  study 
arithmetic,  and  could  not  do  so  without  a 
slate. 

Jonas  then  came  forward,  and  said  that 
he  should  like  to  give  her  five  cents  of 
Georgie's  money,  and  that,  with  the  ten 
she  had,  would  be  enough.  He  said  that 
Georgie  had  given  him  authority  to  do 
what  he  thought  best  with  his  money,  and 
he  knew,  if  Georgie  was  here,  he  would 
wish  to  help  the  little  girl. 

Rollo  and  James  were  both  sorry  they 
had  not  thought  of  it  themselves;  and, 
as  soon  as  Jonas  mentioned  it,  they  want- 
ed to  give  some  of  their  money  to  the  girl ; 
but  Jonas  said  he  knew  that  Georgie 
would  prefer  to  do  it.  At  last,  however* 
it  was  agreed  that  Rollo  and  James  should 
furnish  one  cent  each,  and  Georgie  the 
rest.     This  was  all  agreed  upon  after  a  low 


190  GEORGIE. 

conversation  by  themselves  in  a  corner  of 
the  store ;  and  then  Jonas  came  forward, 
and  told  the  shopman  that  they  were 
going  to  pay  the  additional  five  cents,  and 
that  he  might  let  the  girl  have  the  slate. 
So  Jonas  paid  the  money,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  Rollo  and  James  should  pay 
him  back  their  share,  when  they  got  their 
money  changed.  The  boys  were  very 
much  pleased  to  see  the  little  girl  go 
away  so  happy  with  her  slate  in  her  hand. 
It  was  neatly  done  up  in  paper,  with  two 
pencils  which  the  shopman  gave  her,  done 
up  inside. 

After  Maria  was  gone,  the  boys  looked 
around  the  shop,  but  could  not  find  any 
thing  which  exactly  pleased  them  ;  or  at 
least  they  could  not  find  any  thing  which 
pleased  them  so  much  more  than  any  thing 
else,  that  they  could  decide  in  favor  of  it. 
So  they  concluded  to  walk  along,  and  look 
at  another  shop. 

They  succeeded  at  last  in  finding  some 
playthings  that  -  they  liked,  and  Jonas 
bought  a  variety  of  useful  things  for  Geor- 
gie.  On  their  way  home,  the  carryall 
stopped  at  the  house  where  Lucy  lived, 


GE0RG1E.  191 

and  Rollo's  mother  left  him  and  James 
there,  to  show  Lucy   their  playthings. 

One  of  the  things  they  bought  was  a 
little  boat  with  two  sails,  and  they  went 
down  behind  the  house  to  sail  it.  The 
other  playthings  and  books  they  carried 
down  too,  and  had  a  fine  time  playing  wTith 
them,  with  Lucy  and  another  little  girl 
who  was  visiting  her  that  afternoon. 


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